Every Given Saturday

Long-gone / pre-modernised football grounds, Belfast & beyond. Non-partisan. Peace, love 'n' railway sleepers. Views are my own & not those of Big Library. IFS

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

If only it could talk. Abandoned turnstile at Dunmurry Rec's Ashley Park

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

@Midlands103 It has failed already. All traffic from M7 J16 being funnelled down local road (L7380) contrary to instructions on Website. Crawling for last 50 minutes. 3hrs to travel 150 miles & looking like another couple of hours to travel the last few. Never been this bad before

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

@NIFLGrounds @BrantwoodFC @brantwood_fc @crusaders1898 @GuySpence @JoeCassells1 Before it was no. 159, it was the Back-Lodge of The Grove (House) & there has been a property on this site from (at least) the turn of the 20th C. Residents have included: A. Clugston; J. Mallon, fireman; J. Murphy, labourer. The last was living there when the ground was built

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

@NIFLGrounds @BrantwoodFC @brantwood_fc @crusaders1898 @GuySpence @JoeCassells1

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

@NIFLGrounds @BrantwoodFC @brantwood_fc @crusaders1898 @GuySpence @JoeCassells1 It was originally 159 Skegoneill Avenue, and the football ground was essentially built around the house. According to Belfast street directories, the property has been ‘officially’ vacant since the early 60’s, but it’s not clear when the Duncairn HPS took up residence

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

June 1931. R.C. Cooke of Duncairn A.C. enters The Oval for the final lap after running all the way from Holywood

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

The Bald Eagle beats Laurence Stitt to the ball in November 1981

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

Sun about to dip at The Oval. Glens v Ballinamallard 28 Jan 2017

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

Looking towards Solitude's old cage

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

'New' Windsor artists impression as published in 1982 in 'Accent', a free magazine given away with the News Letter / Sunday News

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

August 1981. The night the (other) Reds came to visit Seaview with some newly acquired silverware

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

The Belfast Newsboys' Club score another in a 5-2 victory over Millwall at Falls Park in 1926

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

The old original Belfast Mercantile College (later Belfast High School) was originally sited in Glenravel Street nr. Carlisle Circus before moving to its present location between Jordanstown & Greenisland. Glenravel St. was wiped from the map forever when the Westlink was built

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

Joe Bambrick of the Glens (yes...really) in action against The Whites at The Oval in October 1926

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

The new Kop end at Grosvenor Park takes shape in November 1927

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

A pre-season spruce-up at The Oval in 1977. Image courtesy of Ireland's Saturday Night

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

The grounds of 'The Grove', as published by the Belfast Telegraph in August 1931. As the caption says, the grounds were purchased by Belfast Corporation and turned into the Grove Playing Fields

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

@wjslater The Scottish side returned to playing in Belfast in 1980 after a gap of 10 years. They played at Windsor Park 3 times between 1980 & 1982. Two home internationals and a World Cup qualifier

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

A dejected Billy Drennan surveys an empty Windsor Park on the day that NI had been due to play England in the 1981 Home Internationals series, but England refused to travel. The Welsh followed suit, meaning that NI were unable to defend the title they had won the previous year

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

Larne, Irish Junior Alliance (2nd Div.) champions 1906/07, finishing ahead of the likes of Owen o'Cork, Oldpark Corinthians, Cliftonpark Zebras & Balmoral Industrial School. Photo was published in East Antrim Times, 16 Nov 1973

[Every Given Saturday @topping_darren]

The Oval from Harkness Parade...as was