Dungannon Swifts F.C.

Dungannon Swifts

Full name	Dungannon Swifts Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Swifts
Founded	1949
Ground	Stangmore Park (Capacity: 5,000 (300 seated)
Chairman	Jarlath Faloon
Manager	Dixie Robinson
League	IFA Premiership
2010/11	8th
Home colours Away colours

Dungannon Swifts F.C. is a semi-professional, Northern Irish football club playing in the IFA Premiership. The club, founded in 1949, has risen from the Mid-Ulster league to the top tier in Northern Ireland since its election to the Irish League First Division in 1997. Dungannon earned promotion from Irish League First Division to the Premier Division in the 2002/03 season.

The Swifts hail from Dungannon, County Tyrone and plays their home matches at Stangmore Park. Club colours are royal blue with white trim (home strip) and yellow with a red trim (away strip).

Dungannon have a mentality of developing future players from their youth system and deploying them into the first team at a relatively young age. The most recent young talent to be developed by Dungannon Swifts was local Niall McGinn who signed for full time Derry City, in the League of Ireland, on 29 January 2008. Niall later joined Celtic as a result of his progress

Club history

Club formation

The history of Dungannon Swifts Football Club began in 1949 with the formation of the club. The names of the founder committee members include Thomas Neill, Jimmy Sands, Maurice Graham, Alfred Burnett, Albert Kelly, George Richards, Albert Watt, Joe Meldrum, Jack Fowler, John Martin and Ben Clarke.

The early years

In the 1949-50 season, the Swifts managed a notable feat when they entered and won the Mid Ulster Shield on their first attempt. The following season, the Swifts made their entry into the Mid Ulster League and haven't looked back since. In the same season they made it through to the Alexander Cup, Foster Cup and Mid Ulster Shield where they landed runners up in each.

Promotion to B Division

After twenty years in the Mid Ulster League, in 1972 the Swifts were promoted to the Irish League B Division where they managed a comfortable 4th spot in their first season.

Stangmore Park

1975 saw Stangmore Park become the official home of the Dungannon Swifts Football Club when they bought the land from Courtaulds Ltd and erected a temporary wooden Social Club. The stadium holds around 3,000 people

Continued success

In the 1980-81 season the team had one of their most successful years ever and were crowned runners up in the B Division championship. The Swifts continued to show their dominance in the Bob Radcliffe Cup over the years but the 1987-88 season showed their skills in the senior Mid-Ulster Cup when they defeated Glenavon 2-1 to bring the trophy to Stangmore Park.

In August 1982, Dungannon Swifts officially unveiled their brand new club house. The purpose built construction replaced the old wooden club house and would provide an ideal environment for club and social affairs such as bingo, dances and dinners.

Senior status

In 1997, Dungannon Swifts achieved senior status on its election to the Irish League First Division.

Intertoto Cup

The club qualified for its first European games by finishing 4th in the Irish Premier League. They played Icelandic club Keflavík in the Intertoto Cup. However, they lost 4-1 to Keflavík and could not make up in the home game, leading to elimination in the very first stage of the Intertoto tournament.

Setanta Cup

Dungannon Swifts qualified for the Setanta Cup by finishing 4th in the Irish Premier League during the 2004/05 season. In the Setanta Cup following, Dungannon was playing in a group with Cork City, Drogheda United and Portadown and failed to qualify for the semi-finals as Cork and Drogheda grabbed the top two places. Drogheda United would later win the tournament, beating Cork City in the final.

Honours

Senior honours

• Ulster Cup: 1
  • 2002/03
• Irish League First Division: 1
  • 2002/03
• Mid-Ulster Cup: 6
  • 1970/71, 1975/76, 1987/88, 1996/97, 2005/06, 2008/09

Intermediate honours

• IFA Reserve League: 1
  • 2005/06†
• Irish Intermediate Cup: 2
  • 1977/78, 1991/92
• B Division Knock-out Cup: 1
  • 1993/94
• George Wilson Cup: 3
  • 1973/74, 2003/04†, 2005/06†
• Louis Moore Cup: 1
  • 1975/76
• Bob Radcliffe Cup: 9
  • 1981/82, 1985/86, 1986/87, 1989/90, 1992/93, 1993/94, 1994/95, 1995/96, 2005/06†

† Won by reserve team

Junior honours

• Mid-Ulster Shield: 1
  • 1970/71
• Mid-Ulster League: 2
  • 1970/71, 1971/72
• Alexander Cup: 4
  • 1967/68, 1969/70, 1970/71, 1971/72

Club staff

Current Role	Name
President	David Flack
Chairman	Joe McAree
Treasurer	Paula Gallagher
Secretary	Simon Graham
Bar Manager	Michelle Hegarty
Youth Development Officer	Rodney McAree
General Manager	Joe McAree

• Manager: Dixie Robinson
• First Team Coach: Rodney McAree
• Player / Coach: Darren Murphy
• Physio: Steven Symington
• Reserve Team Manager: Terry McCrory
• Reserve Team Assistant Manager: David Magee
• Reserve Team Attendant Joe Black
• Under 18's Manager
• Kit Manager: John Smyton
• Team Attendant: Adrian Whittle/Bobby Dobbin

Notable former players

• Sean Webb
• Niall McGinn
• Mark Hughes
• Mark McAllister^[1]
•   Mark Savage

References

1. ^ RTE

Daniel Beaddie

External links

• Dungannon Swifts FC Website
• Irish Football Club Project
• Irish League Supporters