Books

Lansdowne FC: Colourful look at rich 150-year history of Lansdowne rugby club

Lansdowne FC had to endure British prejudice at the outset, but as Charles Ivar McGrath’s painstakingly researched and beautifully illustrated book shows, the club overcame that and other challenges

Lansdowne FC has a very different look now to when it was formed, when during its early years, they raised funds by allowing farmers to graze sheep on the pitch for a penny per night. Picture: Inpho/Ben Brady

“Soccer is a game for gentlemen, played by hooligans. Rugby is a game for hooligans, played by gentlemen,” the old saying goes. The people who started a rugby team in south Dublin as part of the new Irish Champion Athletic Club (ICAC) a century and a half ago had to deal with a different kind of prejudice. As far as the British newspaper the Sportsman was concerned, they were foolish to try and compete ...