Queen's Island F.C.

Queen's Island was a football club from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The team was champion of the Irish League for the 1923/24 season and winner of the Irish Cup in 1882 and 1924.

A Brief History

One of the earliest football clubs in Ireland, Queen's Island won the second ever Irish Cup competition in 1882 and reached the semi-finals the following season. They did not join the Irish League until 1921, replacing the Dublin teams that had left for the newly founded League of Ireland the previous year. Although they spent just eight seasons in senior football, Queen's Island's record of one championship and three runners-up spots makes their disappearance from the top level of the game in 1929 all the more remarkable. In the 1928-29 season they conceded a record 130 goals in 26 games.

During their days as an Irish League side Queen's Island called three venues "home":
* Ulster Cricket Club, Ballynafeigh "1921-22"
* The Oval (shared with Glentoran) "1922-23"
* Pirrie Park "1923-24 to 1928-29"

Irish League Record

* *Deducted 2 points.
* **Finished bottom. Not re-elected for following season. ["Football In Northern Ireland - A Statistical Record 1881-2005" Alex Graham]

Honours

enior honours

*Irish League: 1
**1923-24
*Irish Cup: 2
**1881-82, 1923-24
*County Antrim Shield: 1
**1923-24
*City Cup: 3
**1922-23, 1923-24, 1924-25

Intermediate honours

*Irish Intermediate Cup: 1
**1921-22

Representative Players

Five Queen's Island players won Ireland caps (one each):
* Tom Cowan, "Tucker" Croft, Joe Gowdy, Bert Mehaffy and John Gough [ [http://nifootball.blogspot.com/ Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats ] ] .

The following players Queen's Island players represented the Irish League at inter-league level:
* Armstrong, Blair, Chambers, Croft, Fergie, Gough, Gowdy, Gray, Holmes, McKeown, McLeod, Mehaffy, Scott and Wilson.

References