Ulster Football Club is a defunct Irish

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club that was based in Ballynafeigh,

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History

It was initially founded in 1877 as a rugby club, but later switched codes to

. It was subsequently a founding member of the Irish Football League in

1890 Events January * January 1 – The Kingdom of Italy establishes Eritrea as its colony in the Horn of Africa. * January 2 – Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer in the White House. * January 11 – 1890 British Ultimatum: The Uni ...

. The club later switched back to rugby and continued playing into the 1930s. The club was founded by members of Ulster Cricket Club and played its home games at the Ulster Cricket Ground. It is listed as a rugby club in Richard M. Peter's ''Irish Football Annual 1880'' and during the 1879–80 season it played 24 games, taking on, among others, local rivals North of Ireland and

Queen's College, Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

. On October 24, 1878, the club hosted a demonstration game between two Scottish association football teams, Queen's Park and Caledonian. This game is recognised as the earliest organised association football match played 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 ...

. Ulster duly played a game in April 1879 to Association rules against Queen's College at Ormeau Road, the sides drawing 3–3, Ulster's goals coming from a scrimmage, C. Thompson, and A. Murray; but otherwise the club continued playing rugby, before switching to association football for the 1882–83 season. During the 1880s and early 1890s, both Ulster and its home ground played a prominent role in the early history of association football in Ireland. Ulster reached 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 ...

final on three occasions, winning the competition in

1887 Events January * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the United States Navy to lease Pearl Har ...

after defeating

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3–0 in the final. They were also founder members of the Irish Football League and finished as runners-up during its first two seasons, 1890–91 and 1891–92. The club was a member of the League for six seasons in total: four between

and 1894 and two from 1901 to 1903. In between times, the club reverted to rugby, playing in the Ulster Senior League from 1894 to 1901. During the 1880s, Ballynafeigh also hosted several

finals and

international games.

Colours

The club played in black and red.

Honours

1: ** 1886–87

Notable former players

Ireland internationals

Twelve Ulster F.C. players represented

at international level, winning 44 caps between them. Reynolds also went on to play for

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References