Ballyclare Comrades Football Club is a semi-professional, Northern Irish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club playing in the

NIFL Premier Intermediate League The NIFL Premier Intermediate League (Known as the Playr-Fit NIFL Premier Intermediate League for sponsorship reasons) is the third level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national association football league in Northern Ireland, and t ...

. The club hails from

Ballyclare Ballyclare () is a small town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 10,850 according to the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, and is located within the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area. It is part of, and ...

, County Antrim and plays its home matches at Dixon Park. Club colours are red and white. The club's rivals are Carrick Rangers and

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory)Larne/Latharna
Placenames Database of Ireland. is a to ...

and games between the three clubs are referred to as "The East Antrim Derbies".

History

The club was founded in 1919 by veterans of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, most of them from "C" Company of the 12th Royal Irish Rifles – a battalion made up entirely of East Antrim men, who fought at the Somme and in many other famous First World War battles. From 1990 until 2003, the club enjoyed

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

status, but reverted to intermediate status when the Irish Premier League was established and the number of senior clubs was reduced. The club's reserve team play in the NIFL Development League for under 20s. The club also has a partnership with local youth club Ballyclare Colts, whose sides (from under 11 to under 15) provide players to progress to Comrades' own youth sides at under-17 and under-18 level. The under-18 side play in the IFA Youth League. The club was relegated to IFA Championship 2 in the 2010–11 season and finished in 6th place in the 2011–12 season, but the following season brought promotion back to Championship 1 after finishing as runners-up behind Championship 2 winners Knockbreda. One of the club's most famous products was

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and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

defender Paddy McNair who attends games when possible. Gareth McAuley, now of Rangers, and Michael Smith (Hearts) both played for the Comrades before switching to professional football. The club finished an impressive third in the 2016–17 season, losing out in a promotion playoff to Institute. The club continues with the ambition of getting back into the NIFL Premiership.

Current squad

Honours

Senior honours

Ulster Cup The Ulster Cup was an annual football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football' ...

: 1 ** 1997–98

Intermediate honours

* Irish League B Division: 6 **1960–61, 1962–63, 1973–74, 1977–78, 1979–80, 1988–89 * IFA Intermediate League Second Division: 1 **2006–07 *

Irish Intermediate Cup The Irish Intermediate Cup is a Northern Irish football competition for teams of intermediate status, including NIFL Premiership reserve sides. It is a straight knock-out tournament and is currently sponsored by McCombs Coach Travel. The cu ...

: 9 **1925–26, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1953–54, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1989–90 * B Division Knock-out Cup: 2 **1983–84, 1988–89 *

George Wilson Cup The George Wilson Memorial Cup is a competition open to the reserve football teams of member clubs of the NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Sports Direct Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and Irish Premiership colloqui ...

: 4 **1955–56, 1960–61, 1962–63, 1993–94† * Steel & Sons Cup: 6 **1943–44, 1960–61, 1974–75, 1981–82, 1984–85, 1986–87 * McElroy Cup: 1 **1941–42 * Clarence Cup: 3 **1980–81†, 1982–83†, 1983–84† † Won by reserve team

References

External links

Ballyclare Comrades F.C. Website

nifootball.co.uk (fixtures, results and tables of all leagues)
{{Authority control Association football clubs established in 1919 Association football clubs in Northern Ireland NIFL Championship clubs Association football clubs in County Antrim 1919 establishments in Ireland