YMCA F.C. (Belfast)

YMCA F.C.
Full name YMCA Football Club
Founded 1883 (folded 1889)
reformed 1891
Dissolved 1892
Ground Prospect 1883-87
Shaftesbury Ground 1887-89
Enfield 1891
League Irish Football League

YMCA Football Club is a former Irish football club based in Belfast, formed by the members of the Belfast YMCA. It was founded in 1883 and competed as a senior club in the Irish Cup. Its best season was 1888-89, when the club reached the final of both the Irish Cup and the first County Antrim Shield, losing to Distillery on both occasions. The club also competed that season in the 1888-89 FA Cup. Later in 1889, however, the club folded, with most players joining Cliftonville, in what was described as an "amalgamation".[1] In 1891, however, the YMCA Athletic Club acquired the Enfield ground on the Crumlin Road with a view to reviving the football team for the 1891-92 season.[2] The revival was not a success, however, and the team, bottom of the league, resigned before Christmas.[3] The club appears to have folded in 1892[4]

References

  1. Belfast Evening Telegraph, 1 October 1889
  2. Belfast Evening Telegraph, 24 February 1891
  3. Northern Ireland - Final League Tables 1890-1998
  4. Belfast News-Letter, 26 January 1892