Dungannon Swifts
| Dungannon Swifts | |||
| Basic data | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Surname | Dungannon Swifts Football Club | ||
| Seat | Dungannon , Northern Ireland | ||
| founding | 1949 | ||
| Website | dungannonswiftsfc.co.uk | ||
| First soccer team | |||
| Head coach | Kris Lindsay | ||
| Venue | Stangmore Park | ||
| Places | 3000 | ||
| league | NIFL Premiership | ||
| 2019/20 | 9th place | ||
|
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The Dungannon Swifts are a Northern Irish football club from Dungannon ( County Tyrone ), which plays in the NIFL Premiership , the top division.
history
The association was founded in 1949 by a committee consisting of several people. In the first year of its existence, you initially only took part in the Mid-Ulster Shield competition organized by the local football association Mid-Ulster Football Association .
Mid-Ulster League (1950 to 1973)
It was not until the 1950/51 season that Dungannon finally joined the Mid-Ulster League and also caused a sensation as a finalist in the Mid-Ulster Shield, the Alexander Cup and the Foster Cup. After a total of twenty years of membership in the Mid-Ulster League, in which the Dungannon Swifts won the championship twice in a row in 1971 and 1972, they were accepted into the Irish League B-Division , the highest amateur league at the time , with the 1972/73 season in Northern Irish football and the predecessor league of today's NIFL Premiership .
Amateur League (1973 to 1997)
Here Dungannon was able to assert himself in the first year with a final fourth place. In 1975, Stangmore Park was purchased by Courtaulds Ltd and has been used as the club's home stadium ever since. The club premises, which initially consisted of a temporary wooden structure, were only replaced by a separate building in August 1982. In the spring of 1981, the Swifts crowned their most successful season to date with the runner-up title in the B division. The position of the club in Mid-Ulster was further expanded during the 1980s and 1990s with the eight-time victory of the Bob Radcliffe Cup between 1981 and 1996. Probably the greatest success of these years Dungannon experienced undisputed in the season 1987/88, when for the third time after 1971 and 1976 they won the Mid-Ulster Cup and they could triumph in the final with 2-1 over the first division club Glenavon FC .
First Division (1997 to 2003)
Even after the reform of the Northern Irish league system in 1995 and the associated division of the top division, which is still separate from amateur football, into the Premier Division and First Division, the Swifts initially continued to start in the amateur league. Only two years later, in the course of the expansion of the Premier League from eight to ten clubs, the club was invited to take part in the First Division as a replacement from the amateur camp. After an initial fourth place in the 1997/98 season, several lackluster years followed in the new league, before the 2001/2002 season could be completed as a third-placed club in the upper half of the table. However, this was far behind the two first places, which due to a further expansion of the Premier League to now 12 clubs entitled to direct promotion. The dream of the Premier League was finally to come true in the following year, when the champions of the First Division in 2003 and three other representatives from the First Division made the leap into the upper house of Northern Irish football, which was now expanded to 16 clubs.
Premier League (2003 to date)
The Swifts finally made their debut in the Premier League with a solid 10th place, which secured the set goal of relegation with ten points ahead of the relegation ranks. Obviously, however, they were no longer satisfied with such modest season prospects in the following season. After a very good performance, Dungannon was able to hold onto the top of the table for a surprisingly long time and finally finish the 2004/05 season in fourth place. This was enough to qualify for the Setanta Sports Cup, launched the year before , the first all-Irish cup competition since the 1970s, which is jointly hosted by the Irish League and the Irish National League . In a group with Portadown FC , Cork City and the eventual winner Drogheda United , however, they were eliminated early in 2006.
With another fourth place in the table at the end of the 2005/06 season, the club managed to qualify for the UEFA Intertoto Cup , with which the Swifts were allowed to appear on a European level for the first time. The qualification of Dungannons was initially not entirely undisputed, as the fifth-placed Cliftonville FC had previously lodged an objection to the evaluation of a game against Coleraine FC , in which Coleraine had used an ineligible player. Although Cliftonville FC was of the opinion that the game was retrospectively valued in its favor and therefore had to be ranked before Dungannon in the table, the protest was rejected by the IFA , so that the way to Europe was free for the Swifts. After being beaten 4-1 by Keflavík ÍF in Iceland , they couldn't get past a goalless draw at home and failed in the first round.
Even if they had to settle for eighth place after the last round of the 2006/07 season, 2007 still held some uplifting moments for the club. The repeated participation in the Setanta Cup brought Dungannon group games against the Irish Cup finalists St Patrick's Athletic and once again against Portadown and Cork City , whereby in the end, as usual, the clubs of the Irish National League had to go ahead. By reaching the cup final on May 5, 2007 against the old and new champions Linfield , the team ensured the undisputed climax of the club's history to date. But although the final opponent was in a tough fight and the record champions were initially able to force them into extra time and, when the score was 2-2, to decide on penalties , the Swifts showed nerves at the decisive moment. Linfield won 5-4 in the end, securing the double for the second time in a row.
The team could at least comfort themselves with the fact that as a cup finalist they had already automatically qualified for the UEFA Cup , where they finally got the Lithuanian club FK Sūduva Marijampolė drawn. A 1-0 home win in the first leg was in the end opposed to a 4-0 defeat in the second leg, which was a bit too high, which meant that the Swifts were once again out of the European race. After an average 2007/08 season in many respects, the club secured 10th place in the table as in the first season after promotion to the then Premier Division.
IFA Premiership
The application of Dungannon Swifts FC to participate in the IFA Premiership , which will in future be reduced to 12 teams, was approved by the IFA Executive Committee on May 13, 2008. In the ranking, which is decisive for the allocation of starting places, in which several factors (including sporting success, finances, infrastructure) of each club were taken into account, Dungannon achieved sixth place with 855 points.
Setanta Sports Cup
Since the Setanta Cup 2008, for which Dungannon was able to qualify as the cup finalist of the 2006/07 season for the third time in a row, will now be played in two phases - in spring and autumn - after conflicting dates with the Irish national league that recently followed the calendar year , The Dungannon Swifts are still pending the group stage against Drogheda United , Cork City and Cliftonville .
successes
-
First Division : 1
- 2002/03
-
Mid-Ulster League: 2nd
- 1970/71, 1971/72
-
Ulster Cup: 1st
- 2002/03
-
Mid-Ulster Cup: 3rd
- 1970/71, 1975/76, 1987/88
-
Mid-Ulster Shield: 1
- 1970/71
-
Intermediate Cup: 2nd
- 1977/78, 1991/92
-
Bob Radcliffe Cup: 8
- 1981/82, 1985/86, 1986/87, 1989/90, 1992/93, 1993/94, 1994/95, 1995/96
-
Alexander Cup: 4th
- 1967/68, 1969/70, 1970/71, 1971/72
-
George Wilson Cup: 1st
- 1973/74
-
Louis Moore Cup: 1st
- 1975/76
European Cup balance sheet
| season | competition | round | opponent | total | To | Back |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | UEFA Intertoto Cup | 1 round |
 Keflavík ÍF
|
1: 4 | 1: 4 (A) | 0: 0 (H) |
| 2007/08 | Uefa cup | 1st qualifying round |
 Sūduva Marijampolė
|
1: 4 | 1: 0 (H) | 0: 4 (A) |
Overall record: 4 games, 1 win, 1 draw, 2 defeats, 2: 8 goals (goal difference −6)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ BBC NI, April 26, 2006 - Coleraine cleared after IFA probe: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/irish/4945804.stm
- ↑ http://irishpremierleague.com/news130508_2.htm
