Origins

Early Years

The club’s early association with the Phoenix Park ended in Oct 1882.  Just a few months earlier it had been the scene of the murders of the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland Lord Frederick Cavendish and his Permanent Under-Secretary Thomas Burke by a radical breakaway group of the Fenians known as the Invincibles. 

The murders convulsed the country and the British Government as well as creating huge difficulty for Charles Stewart Parnell whose Irish Parliamentary Party was progressing a long-desired Home Rule bill for Ireland.  The founding father’s such as Harvey Du Cros and RM Tabuteau may have been driven by this event to change location to Cullenswood Avenue in Ranelagh, home of Du Cros who may have provided the playing ground.  The following season they were on the move again and made the short journey to a pitch near Zion Church in Rathgar.  An important element attaching to a playing pitch was its convenience to a tram stop, as both of these locations were. 

Newspaper reports of games played in Rathgar include the names Thompson, Henchy, Magee, Dempsey, Gibbs, Wyse, O’ Grady, Codd.  Bective remained just one season in Rathgar (1883-84) before moving to play at the Pembroke Cricket Club grounds in Sydney Parade.  The status of the club, one of very few in the city, had begun to rise and in 1885 the club competed in the Leinster Cup for the first time.  It had been inaugurated in 1882 and was won by the oldest club in the country, Trinity College on three occasions and once by Wanderers.  Despite the small number of clubs playing rugby at the time the games were well covered in the Press, the most prominent correspondent being a member of Bective and journalist J.J. “Jacques” Mc Carthy who would become well established as a rugby reporter.

At the end of 1888 the club moved for the fifth time, renting a playing pitch from the RDS in Ballsbridge and it brought with it some success as the following season (1880-1889) they defeated Monkstown in the final of the Leinster Cup having gone through the season unbeaten. In 1890 the club went on tour to the UK, a practice that continued for decades afterwards as Bective maintained connections with English and Welsh clubs.

It was 1920 before we settled into our permanent home in Donnybrook, in a ground leased by Leinster and sub-leased to Bective and Old Wesley who remain the tenant clubs. The two pitches were used by both clubs for training and playing, placing enormous pressure on the surfaces. Space became further restricted with a gentleman’s agreement not to use the front pitch for training, necessitating both clubs to purchase grounds elsewhere.  Bective purchased the old De La Salle grounds in Glenamuck in the early 1980s and retain the ground today, though all-weather surfaces in Donnybrook have eased the pressure and allow both clubs to train and play on both pitches.

 20th Century & Beyond

As the game of rugby became more established at club and representative level, Bective was in a position to attract some top-class players.  They won the Leinster Senior Cup and the Bateman Cup in 1922-23 with a team considered one of the greatest of all Bective teams containing a host of international and provincial players including the Collopy brothers Dick and Bill whose father George had been capped in 1891. A second Leinster Senior Cup was added in 1925.

The 1930s were equally productive, not just at senior but also at junior level. Three Senior cups were embellished by three Metropolitan cups and three Junior Leagues.  It was during this decade that Bective became a home for many pupils from Presentation College Bray, Jack and Kevin Doyle, Gerry and Jack Bailey, Harold “Hadjie” Murphy and Malachy Griffin.  When Greystones RFC was founded in 1937 it provided a local club for Pres graduates, but the connection with Bective continued for many years until Greystones became a senior club in 1975.  The strong affinity between both clubs continues though the migration of players has long since ceased.

World War 2 resulted in the suspension of competitions in the early 40s but the 1950s proved to be another decade of success with Senior Cup wins in 1955 and 1956. These teams were distinguished by the presence of internationals Paddy O’ Donoghue, Paddy Costelloe, Brendan Guerin, Gerry Hardy, Jim Murphy O’ Connor, Maurice Mortell and other quality players such as Jerry O’ Dwyer, Mick and Bobby Cuddy. Of note also was the addition to the 1955 team of one Cliff Morgan the scintillating Welsh international out-half.

Momentum was maintained in the 1960s with a victory in the Leinster Senior Cup in 1962.  The club continued to be competitive throughout this decade, but rival clubs in Leinster were also improving and attracting talent from rugby schools as the game grew in popularity.  Most clubs fielded up to seven adult teams in a thriving club scene during this period and for the following two decades, during which the provincial senior cup was the measure of success and club players fed directly into the interprovincial and national teams.  Bective did not reach the holy grail of senior cup success again, agonisingly falling short in centenary year 1981-82 when losing the final in a replay against Wanderers.

The introduction of the All-Ireland League in 1990/91 changed the club rugby scene dramatically.  While it introduced competition among all the clubs in the country, the internal provincial rivalry and familiarity was lost with the senior cup relegated to a side show.  Bective held its own in the AIL and maintained a respectable position in the second division for some 20 years. As time passed into the 21st century the number of young men playing rugby decreased dramatically and very few clubs today can produce more than three adult teams. 

A slide down the AIL table over the last 10 years finds Bective playing in the Leinster Junior League but hopes are high that the club will soon regain its rightful place among the elite of Irish rugby.