Guinness Rugby Club was established in 1943 and has been located in the Guinness Athletic Union located in the Iveagh Grounds, in Crumlin, Dublin 12. Failte go dti an bhaile le Chlub Rugbai Guinness. Ta Chlub Rugbai Guinness bunaithe as 1943, agus ta an Chlub suite i Iveagh Grounds, as Baile atha Cliath 12. Guinness RFC as it is now known was founded in the season 1942/43 and became affiliated to
the Leinster Branch shortly afterwards. But long before that in 1926 a rugby section was formed in Guinness's Brewery by Freddie Parkinson, Eddie Potts, Bill Toner and other brewery personnel. They were not affiliated as they did not have recognised playing fields or pavilion. This was before the Iveagh Grounds were developed. The Rugby Club was called the St James Gate RFC, they played their home games in fields across the Crumlin Road, from where the Iveagh Grounds are now situated. The first match report alludes to a bemused cow being the sole spectator at the first 'home game'. The solitary man and his dog was a slight improvement on that afterwards. The original colours of this early team were reported to have jerseys with horizontal green and red stripes, although one survivor of that era disagrees. The club was known to have survived until the mid 1930s and beyond there is no mention of them and they are believed to have disbanded. In 1942 another group of young brewery men who included Paddy Keenan, Jim Hudson and Larry Farrell decided to form Guinness RFC and by now had acquired the use of the front pitch and pavilion at Iveagh Grounds. They applied for affiliation to the Leinster Branch and were successful in being accepted to enter the Minor League and Minor Cup and other 3rd cups. This would have been equivalent of Junior 2 Rugby today. The club's new colours were royal blue jerseys, white shorts and royal blue stockings.
