"Play up, Ireland" says this old Baines card... my contribution to celebrate Ireland Grand Slam in 2009 ! I know a couple of my regular readers who must be happy today...
Let me also take this opportunity to celebrate the very first Irish national rugby team... back in February 1875, when the first International was played against England at Kensington Oval.
You'll find more information about this fixture and Irish Rugby Football Union history on IRFUwebsite. Here is a short abstract :
From 1874 to 1879 there were two Unions. The Irish Football Union had jurisdiction over Clubs in Leinster, Munster and parts of Ulster; the Northern Football Union of Ireland controlled the Belfast area. When the first International was played against England in February 1875, the teams were twenty a side and the Irish team included 12 players from Leinster and eight from Ulster. The first fifteen a side match was in 1877 and the first Munster players were chosen in 1879.
This 20-a-side team (name of the players + hi-res picture here), led by G.Stack, lost its first game 2 goals and 1 try to nil...
Indeed a difficult start for Ireland, which had to wait for 5 more years before scoring a single point in an international game (match #8 vs England in January 1880)... plus another year to record its first victory in February 1881 vs Scotland (detailed records are here: page 1, 2 and following)
Let me zoom on these gentlemen... Green hoops and no shamrocks... Irish jersey then turned to be white (with a shamrock !) for their second game vs England in Dec.1875, and then plain green as (more or less) we know it... (Thank you, Feargal, for the explanations !)
Team pictures are scanned from "Football : The Rugby Union Game" by Rev.F.Marshall (wonderful book published in 1892).
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