Freebooters F.C.
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| Full name | Freebooters Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | the Whites, the Pirates[1] | |
| Founded | 1898 | |
| Dissolved | 1906 | |
| Ground | Sandymount Road Dublin | |
|
| ||
Freebooters F.C was an association football club from Sandymount, Dublin, Ireland.
The club was founded in 1898 and was made up of a number of players who had been to public school in England, such families as the O'Reilly's, McCanns, and Meldons; several had gone to Beaumont College in Berkshire, including an Irish international player, Henry O'Reilly.[2] The club was an amateur club, using the Corinthian F.C. as a model.[3]
The club lost 1–0 in the 1900 Leinster Senior Cup final to local rivals Shelbourne in a tight game.[4] Its highest achievement was reaching the 1901 Irish Cup final at Grosvenor Park in Belfast, but lost 1–0 to Cliftonville, the Whites handicapped by playing much of the match with 10 men after an early injury to full-back Ryan.[5] Freebooters had beaten Linfield F.C. 2–1 in the semi-final at the Jones Road venue.[6]
By 1906 however the club was struggling; it had to cede one Leinster Senior League match to Tritonville when only seven players turned up.[7] At the end of the season the club resigned from the competition and seems to have dissolved.[8]
Colours
The club played in white.[9]
Ground
The club played at Sandymount, between the Star of the Sea Church and Ringsend. It was previously leased by the Catholic University Medical School and the club hosted a women's international between Irish and Scottish XIs in 1903.[10] In 1906 Shelbourne F.C. began playing their home games on this ground as Freebooters went into decline.[11]