This is the history of Lansdowne FC, the most iconic rugby club in Ireland. Based at the headquarters of Irish rugby, the Club was established even before the international game came to Lansdowne Road. The brain-child of the visionary H.W.D. Dunlop, Lansdowne FC has been a central player in the history of Irish rugby for 150 years and generation after generation of Irish greats have plied their trade with the Club. Centred on the need for people to associate together, this social and cultural history of Lansdowne FC is presented through the prism of key events in Ireland and the wider world, from the drive for codification of sports in the later nineteenth century through the seismic events of two world wars, the Irish Revolution, the Free State and Republic, and beyond. Throughout the book major questions relating to nationalism, unionism, class, religion, and racism in sport and wider society are addressed, while it concludes with consideration of the impact of Covid-19 and the regenerative power of sport within the community.

Charles Ivar McGrath lectures in history at UCD. His research covers a wide range of areas in Irish and British political, economic, social, and cultural history. He is the author of three books as well as numerous journal articles, chapters, and entries in biographical dictionaries and encyclopaedias, and is the co-editor of three essay collections.