Steel & Sons Cup

The Steel & Sons Cup (also referred to as the Steel Cup) is an intermediate football competition in Northern Ireland run by the North East Ulster Football Association (also known as the County Antrim & District Football Association). The competition culminates in the final which has traditionally been played on Christmas Day (except when Christmas Day falls on a Sunday). The 2006 final, however, broke with tradition when it was staged on the Saturday before Christmas as this was a closed date for all other football fixtures in Northern Ireland. [citeweb|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/irish/6171986.stm|title= BBC report about the date move of the Final|accessdate=2007-08-03] The final returned to its original Christmas Day slot in 2007-08.

The trophy

The "Steel Cup" trophy was donated to the County Antrim FA in 1895 by Mr David Steel. Steel was principal of Steel & Sons Ltd, wholesale jewellers, silversmiths, cutlers, watch-makers and opticians, with premises on Royal Avenue, Belfast [Steel & Sons Cup Final Brochure 1970] .

Since 1973 a second trophy has been awarded after the final - the Player of the Match Award. Initially sponsored by the Sunday News, the first winner was Tommy Craig of Glentoran II. Since the 1993 final the award has been sponsored by the Belfast News Letter [Steel & Sons Cup Final Programme 1993] .

Venue of final

The home for the final was rotated round the the major Irish League venues in Belfast until the late 1950s when Solitude became the regular venue. Since the 1972-73 season Seaview, home of Crusaders, has hosted all the final ties, with the exception of the final and replay in 1975-76 and the replay of the 1984-85 final, which were played at Solitude.

Finals

1890s

1920s

1950s

1980s

ummary of winners

† Won by reserve teams

Notes

*fnb|(1) Won by reserve team 1941-42 and 1942-43
*fnb|(2) Won by reserve team 1953-54
*fnb|(3) Won by reserve team 1940-41, 1944-45 and 1994-95

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