The Montserrat Championship is the top

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

division in

Montserrat Montserrat ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, wit ...

. It was created in 1974 but has been competed-for only sporadically, partially as a result of the

Soufrière Hills The Soufrière Hills () is an active, complex stratovolcano with many lava domes forming its summit on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. After a long period of dormancy, the Soufrière Hills volcano became active in 1995 and continued to e ...

eruption causing widespread devastation to the island in 1997. Between 2005 and 2015, no league was played. The league restarted in 2016, but has been stopped again in 2018.

History

Football was first brought to Montserrat during World War 2 and grew in popularity during the 1960s and 1970s at which time the championship and

Football Association A football association, also known as a football federation, soccer federation, or soccer association, is a governing body for association football. Many of them are members of the sport's regional bodies such as UEFA and CONMEBOL and the world gov ...

were established, The first iteration of the national championship was held in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

and was won by the Police. A second season was played the following year, won by

Bata Falcons Bata Falcons is a football club from Montserrat founded in 1974. Honours *Barclays Knockout Trophy (1974) *Montserrat Championship The Montserrat Championship is the top association football division in Montserrat. It was created in 1974 bu ...

, but following that there are no records of any form of organized competition until

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, when the Police team again won the championship. Just as organized football on Montserrat was beginning to get going, a major eruption of the

volcano caused widespread destruction of large parts of the island, with many villages being abandoned. As a result, the 1996–97 season was abandoned part way through and no formal competition was held on the island until

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, when the competition was again won by the police team. Further competitions were held each year until

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, when

Ideal Ideal may refer to: Philosophy * Ideal (ethics), values that one actively pursues as goals * Platonic ideal, a philosophical idea of trueness of form, associated with Plato Mathematics * Ideal (ring theory), special subsets of a ring considered ...

became only the third team to win the championship in its history. This was the last recorded season of formal competition on the island until 2016 when the competition occurred again.

Clubs

Source: Most league games take place at the 1,000-capacity

Blakes Estate Stadium Blakes Estate Stadium, is a football stadium in Montserrat, near the village of Lookout. The stadium holds 1,000. On 2 April 2002, the officially named MFA Inc. Complex was completed using FIFA funds. Tenants Blakes Estate Stadium has several te ...

. *

Elberton FC Places known as Elberton: *Elberton, Georgia, USA *Elberton, Montserrat *Elberton, Gloucestershire, England *Elberton, Washington, USA {{Geodis ...

Ideal SC Ideal Sports Club is a Montserrat sports club based in Brades. Ideal SC is best known for their football section, who plays in the Montserrat Championship, the highest tier of football on the island. The football club won the championship in 2004 ...

* Jolly Roger FC * Little Bay FC *

Montserrat Volcano Observatory Tremors Montserrat Volcano Observatory Tremors (also known as MVO Tremors, Tremors FC, Volcano Observatory, and MVO), are a professional football club based in Salem, Montserrat. They compete in the Montserrat Championship, the top flight football leagu ...

* PC United *

Royal Montserrat Police Force The Royal Montserrat Police Service is the police service of the British Overseas Territory island of Montserrat in the Caribbean. As of May 2024, the Commissioner of Police is Mark Payne QPM MBA, a career police officer of West Midlands Poli ...

* Seven Day Adventists Trendsetters FC * St. John's FC

Previous clubs

Montserrat Secondary School The Montserrat Secondary School, often referred to for short as MSS, is the only secondary school which also has students younger than 16, on the island of Montserrat. The school's campus is in Salem on the western coast of the island. Prior to ...

* Salem FC *

Kinsale FC Kinsale ( ; ) is a historic port and fishing town in County Cork, Ireland. Located approximately south of Cork City on the southeast coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon, and has a population of 5,991 (a ...

Previous winners

Topscorers

References

Montserrat Championship Football competitions in Montserrat Top level football leagues in the Caribbean Sports leagues established in 1974 1974 establishments in Montserrat {{Montserrat-stub