Knock Football Club is a former 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 based in east

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

History

It was founded by members of the Knock Lacrosse Club in 1879 and was the second football club to be formed in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, after Cliftonville F.C. It played in the first ever match between two Irish football clubs, when it lost 0–2 to Cliftonville on 1 November 1879. It was a founding member of the

Irish Football Association The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for association football in Northern Ireland. It organised the Ireland national football team (1882–1950), Ireland national football team from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became t ...

. The club played in the early years of 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 ...

. Its ground was Bloomfield, which in 1882 hosted Ireland's first ever international football match. In 1882, the club changed its name to Down Athletics, and by 1891 the club had ceased playing football.

Colours

The club played in yellow, black, and red jerseys.

References

Association football clubs established in 1879 Association football clubs disestablished in 1891 Defunct association football clubs in Northern Ireland Association football clubs in Belfast 1879 establishments in Ireland 1891 disestablishments in Ireland Founding members of the Irish Football Association {{NorthernIreland-footyclub-stub