BelfastCrusader
12/06/2017, 10:34 PM
The early history of Irish football continues to be revisited: new research published last month in the Sport in History journal now describes two newly discovered early matches, both in Belfast: one in 1875 and one in 1877.
This means that the oldest recorded association football match in Ireland is now known to have taken place in December 1875: a practice match played by members of the Ulster Cricket Club at Prospect, Ballynafeigh.
Here is the abstract of the article:
According to its foundation myth, association football was introduced to Ireland when one man, John McAlery, personally organised an exhibition match between two Scottish teams in Belfast in 1878 and went on to form the first Irish association club in 1879 and the Irish Football Association in 1880. Based on new research, this article seeks to revise this traditional account, by presenting evidence of earlier association matches, including one in 1875: the earliest recorded association match thus far discovered. It also uses primary sources and a critical re-examination of secondary sources to re-evaluate the role of McAlery, and suggests that others ought also to be credited for the efforts that were made to establish association football in Ireland from the mid-1870s. The article also considers, but dismisses, other extant claims of early association football in Ireland, and, taking stock of recent scholarship, points to the existence of other more informal, less organised and less successful processes of diffusion in Ireland, prior to and contemporaneous to, but independent of, that which was ultimately successful in Ulster.
The article also discusses Limavady's 1876 claim and the reference to football in Coleraine in the 1860s.
And it references recent research by Paul Gunning about football in Connacht, which has discovered that the Sligo Football Club played association football in March 1879 (six months before Cliftonville) - presenting a challenge to Cliftonville's status as the first football club in Ireland to play association rules. Though it does conclude that Cliftonville is still certainly the first association football club in Ireland, in the sense that it was the first club formed specifically to play association rules.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17460263.2017.1319409
If you're interested in this, contact me here.
This means that the oldest recorded association football match in Ireland is now known to have taken place in December 1875: a practice match played by members of the Ulster Cricket Club at Prospect, Ballynafeigh.
Here is the abstract of the article:
According to its foundation myth, association football was introduced to Ireland when one man, John McAlery, personally organised an exhibition match between two Scottish teams in Belfast in 1878 and went on to form the first Irish association club in 1879 and the Irish Football Association in 1880. Based on new research, this article seeks to revise this traditional account, by presenting evidence of earlier association matches, including one in 1875: the earliest recorded association match thus far discovered. It also uses primary sources and a critical re-examination of secondary sources to re-evaluate the role of McAlery, and suggests that others ought also to be credited for the efforts that were made to establish association football in Ireland from the mid-1870s. The article also considers, but dismisses, other extant claims of early association football in Ireland, and, taking stock of recent scholarship, points to the existence of other more informal, less organised and less successful processes of diffusion in Ireland, prior to and contemporaneous to, but independent of, that which was ultimately successful in Ulster.
The article also discusses Limavady's 1876 claim and the reference to football in Coleraine in the 1860s.
And it references recent research by Paul Gunning about football in Connacht, which has discovered that the Sligo Football Club played association football in March 1879 (six months before Cliftonville) - presenting a challenge to Cliftonville's status as the first football club in Ireland to play association rules. Though it does conclude that Cliftonville is still certainly the first association football club in Ireland, in the sense that it was the first club formed specifically to play association rules.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17460263.2017.1319409
If you're interested in this, contact me here.