Bangor Rugby Football Club was founded in 1885 and quickly rose through the ranks of Ulster Junior Rugby and was rewarded with admission to the Senior League in 1924. Bangor was the last holders of the league trophy that subsequently disappeared. Following the war the club re-emerged temporarily as Bangor Grammarians but eventually reverted to the original name of Bangor RFC to reflect the community nature of the club. Rugby in Bangor was on a high when Bangor Grammar School was beginning to emerge as a rugby school and was producing some winning sides. The Club was also honoured by the appointment of our club member Roy Loughead as President of the IRFU. Further honours came in the form of Harry Williams who not only coached Bangor but also went on to Coach the European Cup winning Ulster Side in his second spell as Ulster Coach. Mark Mc Call the current incumbent at Ulster and finally Terry Mc Master currently in exile in Limavady but also coaching the Ulster under 21 sides are all products of the Bangor Club. Other Bangor players who went on to gain International honours are Roger Clegg, Jimmy McCoy and Dick Milliken all of whom went on to play for Ireland, Dick Milliken taking the further step and touring South Africa with Willie john McBride’s successful Lions team of 1974. Since this early success, Bangor have had mixed seasons to date however with Rupert Preston 1st squad coach and Ricky Armstrong first team captain Bangor are in good hands. The current rugby committee under the chairmanship of Norman Gault identified the future of the club was in our youth. A decision was made that the Club would employ a Youth Development Officer. We were fortunate to have Jason Rainey who already had a lot of experience coaching youth teams and his appointment as Y.D.O. Jason moved on to provide Ulster rugby with his experience and is currently the Ulster Branch Community Development Officer for North Down. Our development of the youth section has continued under the stewardship of Phillip Ellis the youth convenor with a full team of coaches training teams in the under 20, 18, 16 and 14 age groups, Stephen Marshall is the Youth Development Officer and he is very busy in all the local secondary and primary schools identifying the stars for Bangor, Ulster and Ireland of the future. We have this year decided to develop further and look at the feasibility of starting a female rugby team at Bangor we have already got the coach in Lisa Donnelly who currently helps out at minis and youth rugby. Mini’s rugby at Bangor is thriving, with youngsters from 7 years to 11 playing their hearts out each and every Sunday also gaining success in many tournaments and tours. This is under the guidance of Mark Tinman and his very experienced team of coaches and helpers.