Shamrock Football Club, referred to simply as Shamrock, is an intermediate

football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...

playing in 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 are based in

Ardoyne Ardoyne () is a working class and mainly Roman Catholic Church, Catholic and Irish republicanism, Irish republican district in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. In 1920 the adjacent area of Marrowbone saw at multiple days of communal violence be ...

Belfast, Northern Ireland 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 ...

. Shamrock were established 2006, and play their home games at Marrowbone Millennium Park, on Oldpark Road. They share the ground with Crumlin Star F.C. Shamrock F.C. play in 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 ...

History

Shamrock Football Club were established in 2006, and entered into the Belfast and District Football League up until 2014, when they joined the Northern Amateur Football League. In 2014, Shamrock established a women's football team, Shamrock Ladies. In July 2023, a pre-season friendly match again Ballysillan's Mossley F.C. was cancelled following sectarian threats prior to the match taking place at Ballysillan Leisure Centre. In February 2024, Shamrock Football Club moved to an upgraded Marrowbone Millennium Park. The stadium cost £4.3 million, funded by funded by the Executive Office Urban Villages Initiative,

Department for Communities The Department for Communities (DfC, Irish Language, Irish: ''An Roinn Pobal''; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster Scots: ''Depairtment fur Commonities'') is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The m ...

and

Belfast City Council Belfast City Council () is the Local government in Northern Ireland, local authority with responsibility for part of Belfast, the largest city of Northern Ireland. The council serves an estimated population of (), the largest of any district c ...

. SDLP's

Nichola Mallon Nichola Mallon (born 23 August 1979) is a former politician from Northern Ireland who served as Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 2017 to 2022. She served as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for ...

helped the club secure this facility, including turnstiles following a 15-year wait and cut the tape at the opening.

Colours and badge

Shamrock represents

Irish Catholics Irish Catholics () are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland, defined by their adherence to Catholic Christianity and their shared Irish ethnic, linguistic, and cultural heritage.The term distinguishes Catholics of Irish descent, particul ...

that live in

, and others from the Catholic community in Belfast. Shamrock Football Club play in traditional Celtic colours, green and white, adopting it from other Celtic football clubs, including Belfast Celtic, Lurgan Celtic and

Glasgow Celtic The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a professional Association football, football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football league system, Scottish ...

. The badge features an Irish clover leaf. The words "Ard Eoin" translates to the Irish origin name of Ardyone, "Eoin's Height", the west Belfast location of the club's origin. Also on the badge, the words "cumann peile na seamroige" translates to "the shamrock football association" from Irish.

References

External links

{{Football in Northern Ireland Association football clubs in Northern Ireland Association football clubs established in 2006 Association football clubs in County Antrim Northern Amateur Football League clubs 2006 establishments in Northern Ireland