| Full name | Institute Football Club | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Stute | ||
| Founded | 1905 | ||
| Ground | Riverside Stadium (YMCA Grounds) (Capacity: 3,000 (1,370 seated) |
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| Chairman | Trevor Hewitt | ||
| Manager | Allan Blair, Paul Carlyle (joint manager's) | ||
| League | IFA Championship 1 | ||
| 2010/11 | 8th | ||
| Website | Club home page | ||
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Institute F.C. is a Northern Irish intermediate football club who play in IFA Championship 1.
The club, founded in 1905, are based in the Drumahoe area of Derry and play their home matches at the Riverside Stadium in the YMCA Grounds. Club colours are sky blue and white.
There are currently two joint manager's; Allan Blair and Paul Carlyle, after former manager John Gregg resigned in February 2011.
The Presbyterian Working Men's Institute founded in 1882 was associated with football from October 1905, when a number of players and supporters of North End Olympic F.C., which had folded, conceived the idea of creating a new football team. A meeting was accordingly held in the rooms, of the Diamond Hotel, with the late Mr. William Buchanan, acting as chairman. It was thereupon decided to form a Junior Football Club in connection with the PWMI, to be known as "Institute F.C." to affiliate with the North-End Football Association and to play only friendly matches during the season 1905-06.
Institute F.C. played their first ever match (a friendly) against St Columbs Court at Magee College grounds (which the club used as their home pitch for that season). Institute won the match 2-1. Those who played in this match were:
J.Parkhill, D.Patton, Wm. Neely, R.A.Bogle, W.M.Wilton, D.Gillespie, J.Holland, D.McCleery, D.Gilfillan, G. Young, A. Doherty.
Institute arranged many other friendlies during that season and continued to grow in strength.
In the 1906/07 season the club entered the North-West Junior League. Their first ever junior match was a league match away to Farm Wanderers which ended in a 4-4 draw.
In the season of 1907/08, Billy Gillespie (one of the clubs greatest ever players) began playing for Institute. They won the North-West Charity Cup that season, beating Derry Celtic Wanderers 4-1 in the final, making them the first Junior team ever to win the trophy. Mr William Logue became chairman of the club and remained chairman until the year 1914.
In the 1910/11 season although the team sadly lost Billy Gillespie to Leeds City, they managed to reach the semi-final of the Irish Junior Cup, in which they were defeated by Broadway United (at the Brandywell) by two goals to one.
The 1911/12 season saw Institute reach the final of the Irish Junior Cup, narrowly losing out on winning the trophy after a 2-1 defeat by Brantwood FC at Grosvener Park, Belfast.
In 1981 Institute joined the Intermediate League. Their first season in the Intermediate league (1981/82 season) turned out to be the clubs most successful ever in the league. Their first ever intermediate match was a league match against Roe Valley, which Institute won 8-1. That season they also reached the semi-finals of the Intermediate Cup (where they beat RUC on penalties at the Coleraine Showgrounds), meaning they had earned themselves a place in the first round of the Irish Cup.
Institutes' Intermediate Cup final opponents were Chimney Corner F.C.. Institute were beaten 2-0 in an unconvincing performance. Their Irish Cup first round match against Coleraine also did not go exactly how they would have liked, Coleraine were 2-1 winners.
In 1996 Institute entered the B division of the Irish League.
In the season of 1996/97 Institute won the Smirnoff Cup beating Chimney Corner 4-2 in the final. They finished 7th in the league that season.
In the 1998/99 season Institute gained promotion to the Irish First Division.
14 August 1999 was a proud day for Institute Football Club as this was the day of the clubs' first ever match as a senior football team. The match was at home (The Riverside Stadium) to Bangor F.C. in the league (Irish First Division) and the result was a 3-3 draw which saw Institute come from behind. Institutes' first victory of that season was a 1-0 win away to local North-West rivals Limavady United F.C.. A visit from Armagh City at the end of the season saw a massive 7-0 victory for Institute, with top scorer Roddy McDowell going down in the record books for scoring the clubs' first ever senior hat-trick (he actually scored four on the day). Institute secured 6th place in the league.
In the 2000/01 season Institute finished in the top half of the league, securing 5th place.
In the season of 2001/02 the club finished 2nd place in the Irish First Division securing promotion to the Irish Premier League. Also that season saw four Institute players reach 100 appearances for the club, these were Graeme Philson, Adrian Creane, Ryan Coyle and John McGarvey.
The first match of the 2002/03 season for Institute was away to Glentoran, which they lost 4-1. The 2002/03 season spelt the end of Paul Kee's 3 year reign as manager as he left to manage Carlisle United F.C.. Despite this, Institute were the champions of the North-West cup that season and finished 6th place in the league (top half), which still stands today as a club record.
In the 2003/04 season Institute finished 11th place in the league.
The 2004/05 season was a slightly more successful season for the club with a 9th place finish in the table.
Institute were relegated from the Premier division in the 2005/06 season, after losing out in their promotion/relegation play-off against Donegal Celtic F.C. (played due to Institute finishing 15th out of 16 in the Premier Division and Donegal Celtic F.C. finishing 2nd in the First Division). Institute lost the first (away) leg 3-1 and played out a 0-0 draw in the second (home) leg.
In 2006/2007 they were winners of the Irish First Division, gaining promotion to the IFA Premiership.
In the 2007/2008 season the club managed to avoid relegation from the IFA Premiership, finishing 14th.
In the 2008/2009 season they secured 7th place in the IFA Premiership (top of section B) out of 12 clubs (after the league had been reduced from 16 clubs to 12 from the 2008/2009 season and onwards) and reached the semi-final of the Irish Cup, which is a club record.
The following season (2009/10) after finishing last (12th) place in the IFA Premiership, a promotion/relegation play-off against Donegal Celtic (not for the first time), would decide whether or not the club would be relegated. They narrowly lost out in this play-off, drawing 0-0 in the first leg (away), and then losing 1-0, to an 85th minute winner from Donegal Celtic's Stephen McAlorum in the second leg (home), and this meant relegation to the IFA Championship 1.
The 2010/2011 season, saw the clubs' first season back to the IFA Championship since the 2006/2007 season and Paul Kee's return to the club, after being appointed as Head of Development, near to the end of the season. The club brought home the North West Senior Cup, after beating Coleraine 3-1 in the final and finished 8th place in the league having won 6 out of their last 8 league games to ease any relegation fears that there had been before this run of form.
In the 2011/12 season, the club won the North West Senior Cup for the second successive season, once again beating Coleraine in the final. The result was 4-2 and the match was played at the Riverside Stadium.
Institute are now battling it out in the IFA Championship in this, the 2011/12 season and aim to gain promotion back to the IFA Premiership in the not too distant future.
The Riverside Stadium located in Drumahoe, Derry has a total capacity of 2,460 people with 610 seated.
In 1995 it was decided that the club would make plans to develop the ground in order to meet IFA regulation standard, to gain entry to the Irish League.
Plans included new toilet facilities, new changing rooms, facilities for the disabled, purchasing two porter-cabins to use as a club shop and for hospitality, a new security fence to enclose the ground and two new turnstiles resulting in the clubs' entry to the B Division of the Irish League.
In the year 1998 Institute decided to build a 330-seater stand at the south side of the ground. The stand was named 'The Billy Kee Stand' after their great player.
In May 2011, 110 extra seats were added to the Billy Kee stand taking the number of seats to 440. The seats in this stand are blue, yellow, white and black.
This stand is allocated to the home (Institute) fans on matchday.
Next they built a 200-seater stand at the north side of the ground.
This is simply known as the 'North Stand' and is allocated to away fans on a matchday.
The seats in the stand are blue, yellow, white and black.
The year 2008 saw the club build a terraced stand. The stand was named 'The Billy Henderson Stand' after the clubs' main sponsor.
Both home and away fans can stand here on a matchday. The two sets of fans are divided/segregated by a metal gate in the stand. The away section of the stand is slightly larger than the home section.
The club then improved disabled access at the ground and provided a public address system, additional toilets and emergency lighting.
In May 2009 the club installed new floodlights at each corner of the ground.
In November 2010 the building of a new 650-seater stand at the east end of the ground began, when completed this will increase the total capacity of the ground to 3,000. The new stand is to be called the Billy Gillespie stand and will contain extensive toilet facilities.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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