Ballyclare Comrades

[Northern Ireland Hibby]

Someone (maybe one of the RoI Hibs lads or one of the Westies) was asking me about the one and only Ballyclare Comrades.

Discovered their site online. How's this for a website, bearing in mind they're a very wee team.

They've also got one of the best names outside Edinburgh AND have their own celebrity supporter: Andy Cairns from Theraphy?

[U What?]

All the clubs in the Irish League are only wee clubs compared to the mighty D.C.F.C.

[Rep of Ireland Hibee]

Originally Posted by U What?

All the clubs in the Irish League are only wee clubs compared to the mighty D.C.F.C.

Dublin City Football Club

[Northern Ireland Hibby]

Originally Posted by U What?

All the clubs in the Irish League are only wee clubs compared to the mighty D.C.F.C.

Dundalk County Football Clubdunno:

[U What?]

You all know that the truth is ouy there!!!

Someday you will eventually realise that there's only 1 DCFC the rest are all imposters......


DERRY CITY FOOTBALL CLUB,
The Breeding Ground for Trophys!!

[Northern Ireland Hibby]

Originally Posted by U What?

You all know that the truth is ouy there!!!

Someday you will eventually realise that there's only 1 DCFC the rest are all imposters......


DERRY CITY FOOTBALL CLUB,
The Breeding Ground for Trophys!!

I'd like them better if they were called Derry Comrades FC and their ground was only a few miles from my house

[U What?]

Never Comrades Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh ???/?

[Northern Ireland Hibby]

Originally Posted by U What?

Never Comrades Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh ???/?

Why not 'Comrades'????!!!

[U What?]

Because we've got history as Derry City FC...

Everyone who's interested in Local leagues knows something about DCFC....

And the Glaziers havn't tried to take us over and rename us!!

[Northern Ireland Hibby]

Originally Posted by U What?

Because we've got history as Derry City FC...

Everyone who's interested in Local leagues knows something about DCFC....

And the Glaziers havn't tried to take us over and rename us!!

But how's about this then.....

"Following the end of the 1914-18 War, Comrades of the Great War Associations sprung up throughout Britain as meeting places for returning veterans, who faced unemployment in the civilian world. The Ballyclare Branch proved to be the birthplace of the present football club, giving it its unusual name
It was an afternoon in late February 1919, 3 months after the signing of the Armistice, that 2 veterans, Sammy Murray and Arthur McGuigan sat talking in the Comrades Association headquarters, a small room overlooking Ballyclare's main street. "We should have a football team here in Ballyclare" one of them remarked casually. A few hours later Bob Grange, the secretary of the branch, joined them. He liked the idea, and the three of them decided to arrange a full meeting of members to discuss the project.
It wasn't hard to convince them that a football team was a good idea : They were bored and depressed, anxious to support something new. It was, after all, the object of the Association to cater for soldiers back home after the war, to help them to adapt themselves again to the lives they had left. A week later, Ballyclare's veteran soldiers, most of them from "C" Company of the 12th Royal Irish Rifles - a battalion made up entirely of East Antrim men, who fought at the Somme and in many other famous First World War battles - played their first game as a football team, and Ballyclare Comrades were born.
Dixon Park too has military connotations,being named after Major Daniel Dixon, who had fought in France with the founder members.
The Comrades have come a long way since their lowly beginnings. Having started at the bottom of the pile in the minor grade, they have worked their way through junior and intermediate levels, to eventually achieve senior status in 1990.


On the way they have collected a host of titles and trophies, winning the most coveted trophies below Irish League level; the Steel & Sons Cup and the Intermediate Cup, several times. Since achieving senior status, Comrades have been something of a small fish in a bigger pool, and success has been limited, with the club operating on a shoestring budget, finding it difficult to compete with the likes of Linfield and Glentoran.
Nevertheless, at the start of the 1997/98 season, Comrades won their first senior trophy. This was the Ulster Cup, a competition for First Division sides.


Unfortunately, with the restructuring of the League at the end of the 2002/2003 season, senior status has been lost. However everyone at the club is determined that Ballyclare Comrades will be in the top flight again in the near future.


Honours Ulster Cup Winners: 1997/98
Irish League 'B' Division Winners: 1960/61, 1962/63, 1973/74, 1977/78, 1979/80, 1988/89
IFA Intermediate Cup Winners: 1925/26, 1949/50, 1950/51, 1953/54, 1959/60, 1960/61, 1962/63, 1989/90
Steel & Sons Cup Winners: 1943/44, 1960/61, 1974/75, 1981/82, 1984/85, 1986/87
George Wilson Cup Winners: 1956/57, 1961/62, 1963/64, 1993/94
'B' Division Knockout Cup Winners: 1983/84, 1988/89"

[U What?]

FAI Premier Division Champions 1988-89, 1996-97
IFA Irish League Champions 1964-65
FAI Cup Winners 1989, 1995, 2002
IFA Cup Winners 1949, 1954, 1964
FAI League Cup Winners 1988-89, 1990-91, 1991-92, 1994-95, 1999-2000, 2005
FAI First Division Champions 1986-87
FAI Shield Winners 1985-86
City Cup Winners 1935, 1937
Gold Cup Winners 1964
Top Four Winners 1966

Hows that for a record !!

Take care to notice the TREBLE..

For some strange reason 'C' company stands out??

[Northern Ireland Hibby]

For some strange reason 'C' company stands out??

Why?

You sure you aren't getting the 12th Royal Irish Rifles mixed up with someone else?

[U What?]

Could be but if you say the words C company to just about anybody in Norn Iron, a lot of past history be's eradicated...

It's unfortunate that we're/I'm so fickle..