> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.dublininquirer.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Clontarf rugby honours members who fell in the Great War, on the club's 150th anniversary - URL: https://www.dublininquirer.com/clontarf-rugby-honours-members-who-fell-in-the-great-war-on-the-clubs-150th-anniversary/ - Published: 2026-09-24T23:54:12.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-24T23:54:12.000Z - Description: About 38 percent of the club’s adult membership saw active service during that war, and 18 were killed in it, club president Brendan Smith said at an event Wednesday night. - Author: Eoin Glackin - Tags: history, sports, Local Democracy Reporting Scheme, City Desk On Wednesday night, members of Clontarf FC gathered to kick off the year of events planned to celebrate the local rugby club’s sesquicentennial. In anticipation of the milestone year, club president Brendan Smith, with the help of member Kieron McDonald, did a deep dive into the past of the institution that welcomed its first members in 1876. And in the clubhouse’s packed function hall on Wednesday, among the clinking glasses, cheerful stories, and the crested club blazers, they also remembered a lesser known, and sombre chapter, in the club's history – about the young members who went to fight in World War 1, 18 of whom never came home. The findings were also published in a booklet launched on the night, which charts the 2025 All Ireland League champion club’s course over the last 150 years. When Europe went to war in the summer of 1914, the impact was soon felt at Castle Avenue, the club's home ground, says Smith. Irish rugby had mobilised quickly behind the war effort. The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) proposed forming a volunteer corps of players and supporters for home defence, while subscriptions were opened for the Prince of Wales National Relief Fund – aiding people affected by the war. By October, the Leinster Branch had suspended official competitive rugby, although clubs were still permitted to organise friendly and charity matches. Clontarf Football Club supported both the volunteer corps and the relief fund. Its secretary, S. Feighery, stepped down because of military duties. Within the club, there was debate about whether rugby should continue at all. Members eventually voted by 16 votes to 11 to carry on playing friendly matches, with half of the gate receipts donated to the relief fund. It was a narrow decision, reflecting the uncertainty facing clubs across the country. And the Leinster Branch did not support the club’s decision, says Smith. In practice, the matter was soon decided by outside events. So many Clontarf members enlisted that, by January 1915, the club could no longer field a team. The Castle Avenue grounds were instead made available to the 32nd Company of the Boys’ Brigade, while the rugby club entered a period of dormancy that lasted from October 1915 until January 1919. ## Sacrifice The scale of Clontarf’s involvement in the war was immense, says Smith. Before the conflict, the club had 285 adult members, consisting of 111 playing members and 174 non-playing members. Of these, 107 saw active service – about 38 percent of the club’s adult membership. Eighteen never returned. They lost their lives in some of the war’s most devastating campaigns and battles, including Gallipoli, the Somme, Ypres, Passchendaele, Flanders and the Aisne offensive. Their individual stories are remembered now by their old rugby club, written down in the booklet. G. F. Lambert "Bertie" Porter was killed at the Somme in June 1917 and was recommended for the Victoria Cross. Rex Ribton, who served with the Canadian Infantry, received the Military Medal. Arthur Taylor was killed at Passchendaele, while Albert Wilkin was killed at Gallipoli and “Mentioned in Dispatches” – meaning formally commended by senior military command. Brothers Alex and Walter Paul enlisted together in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Walter, who captained Clontarf Rugby’s schoolboys’ team, was killed at Gallipoli on 7 August 1915, aged 19. Alex, having transferred to the Royal Irish Rifles, was killed in France on 2 October 1917, aged 20\. He was recommended for honours for gallantry at Messines, Belgium. Nine of the 18 Clontarf men who died have no known grave. Speaking at Wednesday's event, president of the IRFU Tony O'Beirnesaid he had found it sobering to learn that 18 of the club members had been killed during the Great War. “I have no doubt that, like every other club, you have endured difficult times along the journey and had to dig deep to find a way forward,” O'Beirne said, to the room. ## Family remembered Nigel Cooke, a member of the club today, says it's good to see the memory of his grand uncle, William W. Cooke, kept alive in some form by Clontarf FC. William, who served with the Machine Gun Corps, was killed at the Somme in France on 25 April 1918, aged 21. The new booklet recalls how his brother Norman later served as President of Clontarf Rugby Club during the 1940–41 season. Nigel says that his own son, Alex, William’s great-grandnephew, still plays for the club today. “It’s great, there is another generation of the family going through,” he says. Nigel says that his grandfather, Norman, wanted to “go across” with his brother. “But he wasn't allowed because he was underage.” William was part of a group who, outside of combat, stumbled upon a patch of landmines and were blown up, Nigel says. “There’s a graveyard on the French and Belgian border with him,” he says. ## Honour The loss remained deeply felt when rugby eventually returned to Castle Avenue. In January 1921, a permanent Roll of Honour was erected in the pavilion by the twin Clontarf Rugby and Cricket Clubs, who share a clubhouse to this day. It recorded the names of 129 members of the two clubs who served during the First World War. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9f/78/9f782dda-9dc9-44d1-b817-fe80588bdc76/content/images/2026/09/The-Roll-of-Honour-in-Clontarf-FC-s-clubhouse.jpg) Photo by Eoin Glackin. Among them were the 107 members of the rugby club who had gone on active service, including the 18 who had died. When the club resumed activities in 1919, records from the first meeting back show Honorary Secretary Stan Polden acknowledged those 18 young men who had made the "supreme sacrifice". "I trust their memory may never be forgotten while the Clontarf Football Club remains," he said. "At a later date, a suitable record will be prepared and placed, I hope, in this Pavilion.” Today that very memorial, says Smith, makes clear that Clontarf FC continues to remember its fallen friends. It also stands as a reminder, especially poignant given the world today, that war reaches far beyond the confines of its battlefields, devastating families and communities, he says. Those members of Clontarf FC who died in the first World War were Louis Barron, Jack Boyd, Ned Brady, James Bryce, George A. Clarke, William W. Cooke, J.W. Costello, Fred Dowling, Noel Galt, W.A. Gross, James McDaniel, W.S. Montgomery, Alex Paul, Walter Paul, G.F. Lambert “Bertie” Porter, Reginald “Rex” Ribton, Arthur McCutchen Taylor, and Albert E. Wilkin. *Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.*