Loughgall FC

[Elfman]

Couldn't find a recent thread on this so thought I'd start one. I saw Finn Harps signed a lad from Loughgall, so I checked out their Wikipedia page. Imagine my surprise to discover they were the smallest club (by population size) in the top tier of a European division.

I'm curious - how does a village of 283 people manage to support a football club at that level, purely from a cost perspective. Is there a rich benefactor?

[EalingGreen]

Couldn't find a recent thread on this so thought I'd start one. I saw Finn Harps signed a lad from Loughgall, so I checked out their Wikipedia page. Imagine my surprise to discover they were the smallest club (by population size) in the top tier of a European division.

I'm curious - how does a village of 283 people manage to support a football club at that level, purely from a cost perspective. Is there a rich benefactor?Quite a story and yes, they had* a benefactor, local man Hilbert Willis (and family), a local businessman. But he didn't just put money into the club to sign players and "buy" promotion. Instead the club has built a terrific set-up in the village, incl Lakeview Park which holds 2k to Premiership standard, but also the Willis CRL Arena, a training/social complex with artificial pitches etc on the same site, and which supports a big programme of youth and community football. I'd guess the whole thing is better than that at most LOI FD clubs, and may even stand up well against a couple of PD sides?
https://loughgallfc.co.uk/willis-crl-arena

As for the playing side of things, they were relegated to the Championship at the end of last season, after two seasons in the Prem. During those two seasons, their home crowds averaged 584 and 748 - boosted by big away crowds obv, top crowd being 1,555 vs Linfield, but also four figures vs Glentoran, Portadown and Dungannon. (Btw, this was their second spell at that level after lasting 3 seasons from 2004/05.)
https://loughgallfc.co.uk/history


* - I say "had", because Willis died last month at the age of 101 (he'd spent his 100th Birthday watching them play at Larne!). Below are pics of his last visit ot Lakeview Park:

https://scontent.fbhx1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/505437682_1528300888588058_7122751691589844658_n.j pg?stp=cp6_dst-jpg_tt6&_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=833d8c&_nc_ohc=ZCs6v0NBAFQQ7kNvwHRs_nA&_nc_oc=Adl27loEZim3ciK-AB4eAOGY5AtutltkX49uRZ5zP6YcfB0DomI7qi2PMzb6XJ1Dn7 o&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.fbhx1-1.fna&_nc_gid=DnJ9GmHh-08a3vC7NeR9Rg&oh=00_AfOS8H5uS4_AxNaZGyl4E6Cuf-aOyLFdGqa67OufV5Y-Zw&oe=686C7773

https://focus.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/thumbor/owcp34AS0IYBkJ3nabSJRUgCEVM=/18x0:3238x2147/1280x853/prod-mh-ireland/91e63d21-0e04-4a4b-be2d-429750d24041/a71bc49d-7d4d-4092-b3cb-858a61ad4a53/91e63d21-0e04-4a4b-be2d-429750d24041.jpg

[Elfman]

A great story EalingGreen and thanks for the pictures and links to help with the visual! Puts me in mind of Dave Whelan at Wigan Athletic.

Sounds like Willis did it the right way, slowly growing off the pitch and getting buy-in from the community without pumping all his money into the first team. RIP.

With his recent passing and Loughgall's relegation, do you envision them competing at Championship level with the odd promotion or is there a danger they'll fall down the divisions?