Barn United Football Club is a

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, intermediate football club from

Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 28,141 at the 2021 census. It is County Antrim's oldest t ...

playing in Division 1B of the

Northern Amateur Football League The Northern Amateur Football League, also known as the Northern Amateur League and often simply as the Amateur League, is an association football league in Northern Ireland. It contains 13 divisions. These comprise four intermediate sections: ...

. They play their home games at Haslett Park, next door to their local rivals

Carrick Rangers Carrick Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club playing in NIFL Premiership. The club, founded in 1939, hails from Carrickfergus, County Antrim and plays its home matches at Taylors Avenue which is known as th ...

. The current club formed in 1954 taking its name from an earlier team,

Barn A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Allen G ...

, which played in the Irish League from 1923 to 1928. As well as Barn's first XI, they field a second team in the Amateur League Division 3B and several youth teams in the East Antrim Youth League.

History

When Barn United formed in 1954, the club set up its home ground adjacent to Carrick Rangers' Taylor Avenue home. United joined the Northern Amateur League as a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

club in 1955, before being elevated to intermediate status in 1961.H. Johnstone & G. Hamilton (n.d.) ''A Memorable Milestone: 75 Years of the Northern Amateur Football League'', p. 180 The two clubs shared a friendly rivalry up to the 1970s and both performed well. But in 1976, Carrick shocked the senior Irish clubs when they won the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

. By 1983, Carrick was playing senior football. Barn United found new rivals in

Islandmagee Islandmagee () is a peninsula and civil parish on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, located between the towns of Larne and Whitehead. It is part of the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council area and is a sparsely populated rur ...

with the teams meeting annually to play for a trophy. But the fixture was marred by a series of on-field incidents and trouble between the opposing fans. The teams still meet in league and cup matches but the trophy matches are no longer played. The club's current facilities at Haslett Park are basic but does feature a social club, which was opened in 1981 by

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

player and

international John McClelland. There is also a covered stand called the Gary "Gee" McKee stand which can seat 70 fans. Barn fans often refer to themselves as "barnies" or "barnyarts".

Honours

Intermediate honours

* Northern Amateur League: 1 ** 1975–76 * Clarence Cup: 2 ** 1975–76, 1994–95

External links

Ground Hopper - Barn United

East Antrim Youth League

nifootball.co.uk
- (For fixtures, results and tables of all Northern Ireland amateur football leagues)

Notes

{{Football in Northern Ireland Association football clubs in Northern Ireland Association football clubs established in 1954 Northern Amateur Football League clubs 1954 establishments in Northern Ireland