Bangor F.C.

Bangor Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Premiership. The club, founded in 1918, hails from Bangor and plays its home matches at Clandeboye Park. Club colours are gold and royal blue.

The first Bangor FC was founded, according to local legend, in 1914 in a rowing boat on Bangor Bay. When The Great War was declared in the August of that year, football was abandoned in Bangor as many young men rushed to join up and the then leading junior teams in the town, Bangor Rangers and Clifton Amateurs, folded. Soon, however, two enthusiasts, Bob Lindsay and Jimmy Savage, found they could not face the prospect of a winter without football and so the idea of a "Bangor FC" was born as they discussed the situation when out for a row in the bay.

Back on dry land, a committee was formed and the new Bangor FC played at the Recreation Ground off the Brunswick Road, as a successful member of the Irish Football Alliance. However, in August 1918, Bangor FC wound up its affairs as there was a feeling amongst some members that it was wrong to be playing sport while young men were being slaughtered in the carnage of Flanders. Others were convinced that life should continue as normally as possible and within a matter of days a "new" Bangor FC was born, taking over the fixtures and many of the players of the "old" Bangor FC.

Encouraged by early success, Bangor joined the then Intermediate league where they played until gaining admission into the Irish League in 1927. Their first senior match was a local derby against Ards at Castlereagh Park on 20 August 1927.

The late twenties and thirties were times of economic depression, money was scarce, gates disappointing and the club had to be run on a shoe-string. Against this background, Bangor were able to field a team which was able to keep its head above water, though often to be found in the lower half of the league.

At that time Bangor FC played at the Ballyholme Showgrounds where they had moved from their second home in Castle Street in 1923. The Showgrounds were situated just behind the Ballyholme Esplanade and, being sand based, had one of the best and robust surfaces in the Irish League. In 1934, the club was given notice to quit as the ground was required for building houses ; Sandringham Drive now occupies the site.

After a season when all games had to be played away from home and which almost saw the demise of the club, Bangor moved in 1935 to their present home at Clandeboye Park, which was provided by Bangor Borough Council.

Bangor enjoyed the most successful period in its history during the 1990s when the club qualified for Europe for the first time in its history after finishing second in the Irish League. This success was followed by winning the Irish Cup in 1993 after two replays against bitter rivals, Ards. Paul Byrne, who scored the winning goal with the last kick of the game, moved on to Celtic.