Belfast Celtic
| Belfast Celtic | |||
| Full name | Belfast Celtic Football Club | ||
| place | Belfast | ||
| Founded | 1891 | ||
| Dissolved | 1949 | ||
| Club colors | green and white | ||
| Stadion | Celtic Park | ||
| Top league | |||
| successes | Multiple Irish and Northern Irish champions | ||
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The Belfast Celtic Football Club was a football club in the Northern Irish capital of Belfast that existed from 1891 to 1949 . The Catholic club dominated the Irish Football League in the first half of the 20th century alongside the Protestant local rival Linfield FC , but left the Irish Football League after heavy riots against the club's Celtic players after an away game on December 26, 1948 (“ Boxing Day “) after the end of the 1948/49 season; the club subsequently did not take part in any regular competitions, but competed in friendly matches with other teams until the mid-1950s.
The club was named after the Scottish equivalent from Glasgow .
The home stadium was Celtic Park on Donegal Road in West Belfast , also known as Paradise among fans . The club was accepted into the Irish League in 1896 as the reigning winner of the County Antrim Shields , three years later the first - still all-Irish - of a total of 14 championships could be won. After two championships around the First World War , the club left the league from 1920 to 1924, followed by the first great Celtic era in the second half of the 1920s. Between 1925 and 1929 the club won four championship titles and once the Northern Irish Cup, the championships in 1927 and 1929 even came without a lost game, this period was marked by the great rivalry with its city neighbor Linfield, which, however, the seasons in the first half of the 1930s could usually finish better. With the new (initially player) coach Elisha Scott , an era of dominance of the club began in 1934, from 1935 to 1948 Celtic won all national championships and with the exception of 1942 also all regional war championships.
After the 1948/49 season, the team withdrew from the Northern Irish League as runner-up for safety reasons - striker Jimmy Jones , among others, was attacked in a match against Linfield FC on Boxing Day 1948 in such a way that he was ultimately out for two years due to a broken leg -, Over the summer they went on a tour of the eastern United States, where they met the reigning British Home Champion Scotland and defeated them 2-0 in New York.
West Belfast was without a major football team until Donegal Celtic was founded in 1970.
player
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Elisha Scott (1916-1919) player, (1934-1936) player-coach -
Charlie Tully (1944-1948)
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Jackie Denver (194? –1948)
Trainer
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Elisha Scott (1936-1949)
successes
Belfast Celtic is still one of Northern Ireland's most successful clubs. The club was a total of 14 champions and eight cup winners.
- Championships: 1900, 1915, 1920, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1948.
- Cup victories: 1918, 1926, 1937, 1938, 1941, 1943, 1944, 1947.
literature
- Barry Flynn : Political Football. The Life & Death of Belfast Celtic . The History Press, 2001, ISBN 0-7524-8100-2 .
- Padraig Coyle : Paradise Lost and Found: The Story of Belfast Celtic. Mainstream, Edinburgh 2001, ISBN 1-84018-451-5 .
- Mark Tuohy : Belfast Celtic. Blackstaff Press, Belfast 1978, ISBN 0-85640-139-0 .
- John Kennedy: Belfast Celtic. Pretani, Belfast 1989, ISBN 0-948868-12-0 .
Web links
- BelfastCeltic.org Website of the Belfast Celtic Society , dedicated to maintaining the Celtic tradition
Individual evidence
- ↑ belfasttelegraph.co.uk: "Belfast Celtic fans will always have a special place in their hearts for Jimmy Jones" (accessed February 17, 2014)