Nortel Football Club are a Northern Irish football club, based in Monkstown,

Newtownabbey Newtownabbey ( ) is a large settlement north of Belfast city centre in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is separated from the rest of the city by Cavehill and Fortwilliam golf course, but it still forms part of the Belfast metropolitan area ...

and playing latterly in the Premier Division 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: ...

(NAFL). The club withdrew from the league in 2016 but returned to Division 2C for the following season.

History

The club was formed as Standard Telephones & Cables (S.T.C.) in 1964 by workers in the company's factory in Monkstown.H. Johnstone & G. Hamilton (n.d.) ''A Memorable Milestone: 75 Years of the Northern Amateur Football League'', p. 211 The factory had only recently opened and the workers decided to form a team which they could enter in the junior ranks of Northern Irish football. In the early 1970s however the club experienced growth and, after winning the Division 2A title, were promoted to the intermediate tier. This occurred in 1970 and marked the beginning of a decade of growth for the club. The 1973–74 season saw them win promotion to the top tier of the league and they competed the double that year by winning the Clarence Cup, a knockout tournament for Amateur League sides. The club were relegated to Division 1B in 1980–81 but kept faith in long-serving manager Barry McClung who led them to immediate promotion before in 1982–83 winning the overall Amateur League title, as well as victory in the Border Cup (a knockout competition for First Division teams only) and a semi-final place in the

Steel & Sons Cup The Steel & Sons Cup (also referred to as the Steel Cup) is an intermediate football competition in Northern Ireland run by the North East Ulster Football Association (also known as the County Antrim & District Football Association). The compe ...

. However McClung left in late 1984 with former

Crusaders F.C. Crusaders Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Premiership. The club, founded in 1898, is based in north Belfast and plays its home matches at Seaview. Crusaders originally played as a junior ...

goalkeeper Roy McDonald taking over as manager.SJ Shaw, "History of STC FC", ''Inverview: The Official Programme of Larne Football Club – Larne v S.T.C.'', 19 January 1985 The name changed to Northern Telecom in 1991 when S.T.C. was acquired by the Canadian company of the same name and then again to its current name in 2001.Nortel Football Club
/ref> As Northern Telecom the club would twice more be crowned Amateur League champions, winning the title in 1995-96 and retaining it the following season. The club's current facilities at Monkstown Avenue were opened in 1980. The club announced their withdrawal from football in October 2016. However they returned to NAFL membership for the 2017–18 season, albeit in the junior Division 2C.Nortel at the NAFL site
/ref>

Honours

Intermediate honours

: 3 **1982–83, 1995–96, 1996–97 * Clarence Cup: 2 **1973–74, 1985–86 * Border Cup: 4 **1982–83, 1985–86, 1990–91, 1999–00

Notes

External links

Official Club Website

nifootball.co.uk
– (For fixtures, results and tables of all Northern Ireland amateur football leagues) {{Football in Northern Ireland Association football clubs in Northern Ireland Association football clubs established in 1964 Association football clubs in County Antrim 1964 establishments in Northern Ireland Newtownabbey Works association football teams in Northern Ireland