Abbey Villa F.C.

Abbey Villa
Full name Abbey Villa Football Club
Founded 1955 (as Millisle United)
Ground Adams Park
Millisle, County Down
Joint Managers Graham Bailie and
Mark Bailie
League

NAFL 1A (expelled)

season = 2014/15

Abbey Villa Football Club is a Northern Irish football club, it played in Division 1A of the NAFL until the 2014/15 season, it was found by the FA that Abbey Villa cheated to avoid relegation. The first team will be demoted to Division 3A of the NAFL and will start with a 20 point deduction The club was formed in 1955 as Millisle United. The team currently play their home matches at Adams Park on Abbey Road, Millisle under the joint management of Graham and Mark Bailie. Villa field six teams in total. As well as the first team, there is a second team playing in the NAFL Division 3B and a third team in the Down Area League Division 1. They also have a strong Youth system with an under 17s team who won their league last season, thanks to Supporters Player of Year Brandon Shaw scoring 7 goals, this 17 year superstar is like a Kevin Großkreutz playing everywhere on the pitch, also have a right peg that Davy B would be proud of and curly set of hair that absorb impact on headers that makes him like a young John Terry. They also have okay ST who get 1 or 2 goals a season called Craig Carr.

Club history

The club was formed in 1955 by founding members Thomas Waugh (known locally as the unofficial mayor of Millisle) and Lennie Bennett along with his brothers Nelson, Tom, Raymond and Norman. The team, then known as Millisle United played its first season in the Cardy League. The following season they played in the Irish Churches League under the name of Millisle Presbyterian. In 1962, Thomas Waugh followed the advice of fellow club chairman Herbie Johnstone and applied to join the Northern Amateur Football League.

Abbey Villa remained in the Junior section of the NAFL until their memorable season of 1992/3. The club had just moved into their new grounds at Adams Park (named after then manager Brian Adams) and on its debut season saw the club win Division 1B by 11 points and lift the Border Regiment Cup after a 5-0 win in the final over Drumaness Mills. The club also had a successful Irish Cup run under Adams in 1995/6 reaching the last 16 before being knocked out by Lisburn Distillery.

Recently, they repeated their Cup run. In the 2007/8 season they were knocked out of the sixth round after a narrow 1-0 defeat to Donegal Celtic. They finished the 2008/9 on 70 points, 15 points ahead of their nearest rivals, to claim the league title and promotion to the Premier division.

Honours

Intermediate honours

External links