'Wanderers' is
Ireland's second oldest rugby club having been founded in 1870 by some former members of Dublin University F C., who up to that time had to seek opponents outside of Ireland, as there were no other Irish clubs at that time. Wanderers F.C. was one of the founding clubs of the
Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) hence the title Wanderers F.C. and not R.F.C., as all clubs were football clubs prior to the founding of the IRFU. The club now in its 136th season is proud of its contribution to Rugby Football, having provided 87 Irish International players, 5 captains of Ireland and one captain each of England and Australia in addition to one captain of the Lions (
Ronnie Dawson).
Honours include 14
Leinster Senior Cup victories, 5
Leinster Senior League titles and 5
Metropolitan Cup titles.
Famous international players have include
Philip Matthews, Kevin Flynn and
Ronnie Dawson.
Wanderers play their home games at
Lansdowne Road.
Wanderers, under the guidance of New Zealander Andrew Spraggon have been promoted to the AIL Second Division, finishing top of the league, losing just one game all season.
The Wanderers Youth Academy has been running for many seasons and under the rejuvenation of Andrew Spraggon, and spearheaded by the talents of
Fergus O'Higgins and
Eoin McDowell and especially the physical presence of young
Daire Conlon, the future is bright for Wanderers rugby.