Clonakilty Rugby Football Club was founded by a small group of local rugby enthusiasts in 1977 at a meeting in the Kilty Stone Tavern in Pearse Street Clonakilty. Previous Rugby Clubs had existed in Clonakilty from 1890 to the early 1900s, and for a few years again in the 1930s until the outbreak of World War 2, so there was a background tradition of Rugby in the town which was very much a stronghold of GAA Football.
After competing successfully at Munster Minor and Junior League Status from 1977 to 1996 when the Club was promoted to Junior League Division 1 status in1996 and commenced a major push to achieve Senior All-Ireland League status achieving this in notable fashion in 2001 when the Club won the Munster League Division 1 and then defeated the Ulster, Leinster and Connaught Provincial Club Champions in the Round Robin competition to achieve promotion to the senior All-Ireland League Division 3. Clonakilty RFC was now the first (and to date the only) West Cork Club to achieve All-Ireland League status. In 2006 the Club won the All-Ireland League Division 3 Title, defeating Suttonians RFC in the final in Landsdowne Road Stadium, and continued to play at National Senior level until 2013 when the Club returned to the Munster Junior League. A Club History can be found in the Document Archive by following the link. (PDF Link)
Over the years of number of youths men and women have come through the Under Age and Adult ranks to achieve representative honours at both Munster and Irish International Level. A full list of Clonakilty RFC players who achieved Provincial and International Honours can be found in the Document Archive by following the link. (List to be added soon!)