Bangor rugby Club field teams at male 1xv, 2xv and Gryphons
Junior Under 17, Under 15, Under 13
Mini Rugby and Bangor Ladies Under 19
The coordination of adult rugby coaching and training is delegated through Rugby Committee to the Head Coach and the Club’s coaching staff. Pre-season training is held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7.00pm, and Saturday afternoons at 2.30pm sharp until the season begins. In-season training continues every Tuesday and Thursday thereafter at 7.00pm sharp. Training takes place at Upritchard Park, the club also avail of the all-weather facilities at Bangor Grammar’s new school campus. In extreme weather conditions, they have also access to indoor training facilities at Bangor Aurora.
New members are always welcome. Please contact any member of the senior squad coaching and management team for more details HERE
Coaches & Contacts
I XV
Jason Morgan Coach
Ricky Armstrong Team Admin
Mark Vance
II XV
John Langtry Coach
Tony Heffernan Coach
Gryphons III XV
John Langtry Coach
Danny Curran Coach
Bangor Ladies U19s
David Coey Coach
Emma Coey Team Admin
Toni Ferguson Team Admin
Mini Rugby
Details of fixtures, matches and general information on the Mini Rugby Section are made available through the club website HERE – so please visit that site regularly to keep up-to-date on all their activities.
Mini rugby training is held on Sundays from 14:00 to 15:30hrs and all children from P2 to P7 are welcome.
Safety is the primary concern so the mini rugby section urge parents to think about all the equipment necessary for their children and mouthguards are a must. CLICK HERE for World Rugbys list of authorised safety equipment.
Clubhouse – Available For Hire!
The two storey clubhouse – the Boston Pavilion – is available for hire. The club regularly hosts private parties, birthday celebrations, anniversary parties and other events (including even salsa dancing).
The facilities include:
– Large first floor function room with capacity for 100 people
– Full on-site kitchen facilities
– Full bar facing into both function room and bar area
– Smaller ground floor function room with its own bar area
– Tables and seating available on site
– Extensive free car parking
Contact Gordon Rainey (Bookings Manager) on 07525 680169 for more details, or to check availability
A History of Bangor Rugby club
Bangor Rugby Football Club fields three Senior teams, the 1st XV in Ulster Qualifying League 2, the 2nd XV in Ulster Junior League 3 and the 3rd XV in Ulster Minor League East 1. The club also has an U-19 XV in the new Ulster U-19 league. Youth Rugby at the new U-17, U-15 and U-13 age group levels is a developing section within the Club, while Mini and Maxi rugby has been thriving over the last decade, with over 180 children participating at all age groups in the season just passed. Ladies rugby is at an embryonic stage.
The Club was founded in 1885 and rose through the ranks of Ulster Junior rugby to attain Senior League status in 1924. Following World War 2, the Club re-emerged in Junior rugby, enjoying considerable success in the 1960s. It was during this time, when the Club leased its two pitches and pavilion at Ward Park from Bangor Borough Council, that the Club’s first submission for Senior status in the 1965/66 season was rejected by the Ulster Branch (IRFU). This was to prove the catalyst for a new beginning. In the summer of 1966, an enthusiastic Committee, headed by Chairman Joe Upritchard and Vice-Chairman Ronnie Boston, drew up the blueprint for a Club Development Plan in preparation for a re-application for Senior status in 1968. A massive fundraising appeal, the generosity of the people of Bangor, the procurement of substantial grant aid, and a lot of hard work brought this vision to reality. Eleven acres of ground were purchased at the Primacy on the southern outskirts of Bangor and site work began in the summer of 1968. Upritchard Park, named in honour of Joe Upritchard, was officially opened in September 1969, coinciding with Bangor regaining Senior status. During this time, Bangor Grammar School was also emerging as a successful rugby school, winning the Ulster Schools Cup for the first time in 1969. And so a new era for rugby football in Bangor began.
Over the next 20 years, Bangor rose to eminence as one of the top Senior Clubs in Ulster and Ireland. At its peak, the Club fielded seven adult teams in the late 1970’s. The highlights of this period were the winning of the treble of Ulster Senior League, the Ulster Senior Cup and Bangor’s own Floodlight Rugby Trophy, the Boston Cup, in 1982. The Club’s success was also recognized by the selection of several Bangor players for Ulster and Ireland. The greatest single international representation was in 1975, when Roger Clegg, Billy McCombe and Dick Milliken, the Club’s only British Lion, represented Ireland in the then Five Nations tournament. When the All Ireland League began in 1989, Bangor competed very well in Division 2. However, with the onset of the professional game in the mid-1990s, the Club’s ability to compete at the highest level declined. In 2002, Bangor slipped back into Junior rugby. Despite enjoying mixed success since, when several Bangor players have represented Junior Ulster, this vibrant Club now has the structures, resources and ambition to enable it to achieve its short-term goal of becoming a major force in Junior rugby over the next few years. In the 2010/11 season, the Club celebrated its 125th Anniversary, with the 1st XV turning out in a modern version of the original Bangor hooped strip of 1885.
Bangor Rugby Football Club merged with Bangor Cricket Club to form Bangor Rugby Football and Cricket Club in 1972. However, it was not until after the redevelopment of Upritchard Park in the early 1980s that 1st XI cricket was played here for the first time, a year after the Rugby Club’s centenary year in the summer of 1987. Each section has its own Committee to manage the playing interests of rugby and cricket respectively. The Chairmen of Rugby and Cricket are members of the Club Management Committee which has overall responsibility for the running of the Club.
Honours
Ulster Senior League Champions
1929/30. 1974/75. 1976/77. 1980/81. 1981/82. 1982/83. 1987/88.
Ulster Senior Cup Winners
1979/80. 1981/82. 1985/86.
Boston Cup Winners
1975/76. 1977/78. 1978/79. 1981/82. 1983/84. 1985/86. 1986/87. 1988/89. 1989/90.
Past Players’ Cup Winners
1905/06. 1910/11. 1962/63. 1963/64. 1965/66. 1967/68.
Provincial Towns’ Cup Winners
1903/04. 1905/06. 1908/09. 1919/20. 1922/23. 1929/30. 1945/46. 1955/56. 1967/68. 1968/69. 1971/72. 1974/75.
Qualifying League 2 Champions
2008/09. 2012/13.
Oval Trophy Winners
1968/69.
Harden Cup Winners
1906/07. 1913/14. 1966/67. 1967/68. 1969/70.
Forster Cup Winners
1973/74. 1996/97. 1997/98.
McCambley Cup Winners
2002/03.
Ulster Under 18 Cup Winners
1981/82. 1990/91.
Ulster Under 16 Cup Winners
1988/89.
Armagh Coca-Cola U-18 Floodlight Cup Winners
1989/90.
Ulster Under 18 Bowman Cup Winners
1990/91.
CONTACT
Bangor RFC
Upritchard Park
Bloomfield Road South
Bangor
Down
BT19 7PN
View with Google Maps
Tel: 028 91462670
Ballymacormick Road Pitches
Bangor Grammar School
Chair
Jonny Watson
4 Windsor Avenue
Bangor
Down
BT20 3DQ
United Kingdom
028 91 857211
07791149714
President
ashley armstrong
028 90471401 Send email
Treasurer
roger clegg
Membership Secretary
Thomas Speers
Press Officer
Roger Corbett
11 Portview
Bangor
BT20 5QB
United Kingdom
028 91462138
07711 755802
Webmaster
Roger Corbett
11 Portview
Bangor
BT20 5QB
United Kingdom
028 91462138
07711 755802
For videos and photos of the club CLICK HERE
For Bangor RFC Facebook page CLICK HERE
For the club Twitter page CLICK HERE
Bangor Rugby Club have a long standing association with Bangor Grammar School
The School Song
Bangor Grammar School has a Latin school song. It was written in 1950 by Miss Elsie Patton and set to music by Dr Emery, the school’s music teacher.
Latin Version
Comgall noster, Columbanus,
Sanctus noster, Gall, Britannos
Effecere Christianos.
Floreat Bangoria,
Deo laus et gloria.
Sana mens in corpore sano
Hic quaeratur et humano,
Quisque sit discipulus animo
Ne pavidus exeat.
Laboraturus inter pares,
Oratorus, oratorus,
Fidem quolibet lauturus.
English Translation
Our own Comgall and Columbanus,
Our very own Saint Gall
Made the Britons Christian.
May Bangor flourish
To God be the praise and glory.
Let a sound mind and a sound body
Be sought here in this place;
Let every pupil of a civil spirit.
Let him go out without fear,
To work among his fellows,
To pray
And to carry his faith with him everywhere.
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