Ivanhoes Rugby League Club (official name-- Ivanhoes Football & Recreation Club Inc. ) competes in the Cairns District Rugby League Competition in Tropical North Queensland, Australia. As a result of a merger of the Ivanhoes Rugby League Club and the Ivanhoes Junior Rugby League Club in 2000, the club now consists of both junior and senior Rugby League teams, ranging from Under 7s to 'A' Grade. Currently, approximately 300 players, drawn primarily from the stunning northern beaches area of Cairns, play in the club's 16 teams.
The club's home is Smithfield Sporting Complex which is conveniently located in the centre of the northern beaches about 20 minutes drive from the Cairns City Centre, and about 10 minutes from Cairns International Airport. The club's home games are blessed with the refreshing, cooling sea breezes which gently 'flow' in across one of the seven natural wonders of the World, the Great Barrier Reef, and the magnificent Coral Sea.
Ivanhoes Rugby League Club was founded in 1923 when the Kia-ora Football Club was renamed the Ivanhoe Knights. The club was based at Norman Park on Sheridan Street in Cairns City in its early days. According to local folklore, the club's early name came from a guesthouse named Ivanhoe Boarding House', which overlooked the club's training ground. A number of the club's players lived in the guest house.
Ivanhoes is now the oldest remaining Rugby League club in Cairns, closely followed by Brothers, who were formed in 1926.
During their early days at Norman St, the club gained a reputation as being battlers -- a working man's club, a tag that has persisted through the decades. The club has miraculously survived since 1923 on 'shoestring' budgets against all the odds, a legacy of the thousands of hours of dedicated and determined hard work from the club's fantastic supporters over the years.
Ivanhoes is a club rich in history, emotion and never ending stories of survival and wins against the odds.
