Soccer Trivia

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Irish Football

The Irish League is the second oldest national league in the world, being formed a week earlier than the Scottish Football League. Only the Football League in England is older.

The Irish League was originally formed as the football league for all of Ireland in 1890 (although initially all of its member clubs were in fact based in what would become Northern Ireland), but became the league for Northern Ireland in 1921 after partition.

The first Irish League champions were Linfield. The first runners-up were Ulster.

Four clubs – Cliftonville, Glentoran, Linfield and Lisburn Distillery – have retained membership of the League since its inception in 1890

it was not until 1952 that a team from outside Belfast (Gleanavon) was crowned champions.

Derry City, now of the League of Ireland, played in the Irish League from 1929 until 1972 but eventually resigned during the Troubles after the League voted narrowly to continue a ban on their home ground imposed by the security forces, even after the security forces had lifted it. 

On one occasion – 1905-06 – the championship title was shared after Cliftonville and Distillery could not be separated after two play-off matches.

Linfield have won the League championship the most times (48). 

Of the 106 championships, the title has only been taken out of Belfast on ten occasions. The most successful provincial club is Portadown, with four championships. 

In the early years, army regiments stationed in Ireland participated in the League: the Lancashire Fusiliers in 1891-92; the North Staffordshire Regiment for three seasons from 1896-99; the Royal Scots in 1899-1900 and the King’s Own Scottish Borderers in 1903-04.

The longest gap between Irish League championships was 77 seasons (excluding the 11 suspended seasons) between Cliftonville’s wins in 1909-10 and 1997-98.

The record for consecutive titles is six, held jointly by Belfast Celtic (1935-40 and 1947-48) and Linfield (1981-87).

The Irish Cup began in 1881 and is the fourth oldest national cup competition in the world.

the Cup has been won by Irish League teams on every occasion except three famous ‘giant-killing’ occasions when "junior" teams beat senior opponents in the final: in 1928, Willowfield beat Larne 1-0; in 1955, Dundela beat Glenavon 3-0; and in 1976, Carrick Rangers beat Linfield 2-1.

From 1881 to 1921, when the Irish Cup was an all-Ireland competition, southern clubs (from what would become the Irish Free State and later the Republic of Ireland) only won the competition four times out of a possible 41: Shelbourne (from Dublin) won three times (in 1906, 1911 and 1920); and Bohemians (also from Dublin) won it in 1908.

Of the 127 competitions played since 1880-81, Belfast teams have won the Cup 94 times. The most successful team from outside Belfast has been Ballymena United, who have won the Cup six times.

In the early years, Army regiments stationed in Ireland entered teams, three of which reached the final: the Gordon Highlanders in 1890, the Black Watch in 1892 and the Sherwood Foresters in 1897. The Gordon Highlanders was the only Army team to win the Cup.

The longest gap between Irish Cup wins was 70 years between Cliftonville’s wins in 1909 and 1979.

Larne have been to the most finals (five) without ever winning.

The highest score recorded in a Cup final was 10-1, when Linfeild defeated Bohemians in 1895.

The first final to be won on penalties was in 2007, when Linfield beat Dungannon Swifts 3-2 on penalties following a 2-2 draw after extra time.

In 1920, Shelbourne, who had beaten Glenavon in one semi-final, were awarded the Cup without playing the final, when the two other semi-finalists, Belfast Celtic and Glentoran, were both disqualified. (Celtic were disqualified after their supporters at fired shots into the Glentoran supporters; and Glentoran were disqualified for fielding an unlisted player.)

In 1999, Portadown were awarded the Cup when the other finalists, Cliftonville, were disqualified after it came to light that they had fielded an ineligible player during the earlier rounds.

Glentoran hold the record for the most consecutive wins: four times from 1985 to 1988.