Belfast Celtic F.C. (1978)

Belfast Celtic Football Club is an intermediate, Northern Irish football club playing in the Ballymena & Provincial Intermediate League. The club hails from Belfast and plays its home games at Páirc Na gCeiltigh (Glen Road Heights),[1] which is in the west of the city. It was founded as Sport & Leisure Swifts in 1978, although the club views its rebranding in 2019 as the beginning of a new club,[2] when it was rebranded as Belfast Celtic.[2]

For the club of the same name established in 1891, see Belfast Celtic F.C.

Belfast Celtic
Full nameBelfast Celtic Football Club CIC.
Nickname(s)The "Dark Hoops"
Founded1978 (as Sport and Leisure Swifts)
2019 (as Belfast Celtic)
GroundGlen Road Heights, Belfast
ChairmanJim Gillen
ManagerPaddy Kelly & Stephen McAlorum
LeagueBallymena & Provincial Intermediate League

The club played in the County Down Premier League and the Dunmurry League, before joining the Northern Amateur League in 1990.[3] The club in 2019 changed its name to Belfast Celtic.

The club joined the IFA Championship (later the NIFL Premier Intermediate League) in 2009. It shared Larne's Inver Park ground while its own home at Glen Road was improved to Championship standard.

In 2019, the club was relegated from the Northern Ireland Football League and joined the Ballymena & Provincial Intermediate League. This coincided with a name change to Belfast Celtic.[4]

History

Sport & Leisure F.C. was founded in 1978 when a group of players approached a local Belfast businessman to provide a kit for their new team and he agreed, with the proviso that his company name, Ulster Sport & Leisure Club, appeared on the shirts. The club adopted the name "Sport & Leisure", which remained until 2019, despite the disappearance of the original business much earlier. The name "Swifts" was added when a number of players from Dunmurry League side Belfast Swifts F.C. left to join Sport & Leisure.[5]

Admittance to the Amateur League was dependent the club having its own pitch, and this was achieved in 1990, when they secured a pitch at Allen Park, Antrim. The club acquired the use of Larkfield High School's ground in Belfast in 1991, before opening its own ground at Glen Road Heights in 2001.[5]

In 2003, intermediate status was achieved.[5]

In 2019, Sport & Leisure Swifts announced plans to revive the name of the historic Belfast Celtic club, based in the same area.[6] IFA permission was granted for the name change in advance of the 2019–20 season.

Honours

Intermediate honours

2007–08 NAFL Division 1B Champions

References
  1. "Páirc Na gCeiltighBelfastBT11 8RB". 27 February 2022.
  2. "Home page". Belfastceltic. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  3. H. Johnstone & G. Hamilton A Memorable Milestone: 75 Years of the Northern Amateur Football League, page 218
  4. "Belfast Celtic: Irish FA grant Sport & Leisure Swifts request to change club name". Belfast Telegraph. Independent News & Media. 11 January 2019.
  5. "Swiftly Does It", NI Football, page 38, Issue 16, Winter 2010; Irish Football Association
  6. "The other Grand Old Team: Belfast Celtic's return could open old wounds in Northern Ireland". The Herald. 17 August 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2018.


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