Northern Ireland national amateur football team


The Northern Ireland national amateur football team was the amateur representative team for Northern Ireland at football. It was formed in 1906 and continued until 1974.

History

The Northern Ireland amateur national team played the majority of its fixtures versus the amateur representative teams of the other Home Nations – England, Scotland and Wales. The team had a winning record against each of the other Home Nations and notably drew 44 of its 56 matches versus England. The team initially represented the whole of Ireland, until the partition of Ireland in 1921. No matches were played against the Republic of Ireland amateur team. Occasional matches were played against representative teams and the team played three matches against non-Home Nations opposition – France, Gold Coast and South Africa. Northern Ireland won the British Amateur Championship on three occasions, in 1953–54, 1963–64 and 1971–72.
The team's first fixture was a friendly match played versus England at Dalymount Park on 15 December 1906. Ireland's Frank Thompson opened the scoring after six minutes, but quick goals from Harold Hardman and Freddie Wheatcroft saw England win the match 2–1. Aside from a friendly match versus France in 1921, England would be Northern Ireland's sole opponents until 1929, when an annual match with Scotland was first contested. Northern Ireland registered its first win on 19 November 1910, with James Macauley, Dinny Hannon and Johnny McDonnell scoring the goals to complete a 3–2 win over England at Solitude. The team was disbanded in 1974, when the FA abolished the distinction between amateurism and professionalism in domestic football. The majority of the team's players played their domestic football in the Irish League for Cliftonville, with Linfield, Glenavon, Coleraine and Distillery also contributing a large number of players.

Venues

The team predominantly played its home matches at Solitude. Other frequent venues included The Showgrounds, Ballymena Showgrounds and The Oval.

Records

Most appearances

Most goals

Honours