Portadown F.C.

Portadown is a Northern Ireland football club, playing in the Irish Premier League. The club, founded in 1924, beckons Portadown, County Armagh and plays its home matches at Shamrock Park. The club colors are red and white. The current manager is Ronnie McFall.

The Irish Premier League is the top level of the Irish Football League, which operates in Northern Ireland. It should not be confused with the Football League of Ireland, which operates in the Republic of Ireland.

The current Premier Division Clubs are:

Armagh City

Ballymena United

Cliftonville

Coleraine

Crusaders

Donegal Celtic

Dungannon Swifts

Glenavon

Glentoran

Larne

Limavady United

Linfield

Lisburn Distillery

Loughgall

Newry City

Portadown

Portadown’s F.C Honors

League Titles: 4

1989-1990, 1990-1991, 1995-1996, 2001-2002

Irish Cups: 3

1990-1991, 1998-1999, 2004-2005

League Cups: 1

1995-1996

Former Portadown F.C. outstanding players:

John McClelland

Allan Smart

Ryan Harpur

Gary Hamilton

Vinny Arkins

Mickey Keenan

The Facts:

Full name: Portadown Football Club

Nickname: "The Ports"

Founded: 1924

Ground: Shamrock Park

Capacity: 8,000

Chairman: R. McMahon

Manager: Ronnie McFall

League: Irish Premier League

2004-2005: third position

Portadown are the strongest of four Irish league teams situated in the borough of Craigavon. The Borough has a population of 80,000 and as top club Portadown could expect an average attendance at Shamrock Park of 4,000. That is easily achievable as the club regularly attracted 10,000 to the ground in the 1950s. Sadly today's gate of around 2,100 will be their biggest of the season at just 52% of their target audience.

The Town:

The town of Portadown has the not so distinguished reputation of being described as the worst town in Northern Ireland to live in by a recent United Kingdom wide survey and was the only Northern Irish town to feature in the fifty worst towns in the entire Kingdom. "Portadowners" who disagree would certainly be able to find many reasons to argue against such a discouraging advertisement of their town, which has a population of just under 30,000 inhabitants and currently has two Irish league teams, the other being second division Annagh United.

The town is situated on the banks of the river Bann in the Craigavon district of County Armagh, 28 miles south west of Belfast and is quite a young town in comparison to others in Ulster. Portadown was little more than a village from the seventeenth to the mid nineteenth Century before exploding into life as a major local town during the industrial revolution, offering work and housing to rural people escaping the hardships of the famine that swept Ireland.

Football & History:

Every kick of the club’s senior history has taken place in the backdrop of Shamrock Park at the bottom of Brownstown Road just on the edge of town. The ground has never been among the greatest in Irish league football, being always overlooked for major semi finals in favor of the far more impressive Mourneview Park a few miles away. With that said, Portadown have started working towards catching up in the stadium stakes with the recent building of a new façade to the ground and a new stand at the visitors end. As well as being used for football the ground was also once a venue for stock car or racing for old cars but that faded in the 1990s.

Portadown finished runners up in Northern Ireland yet again in 2004 and went into the 2005 season with high hopes of taking the title out of Belfast. This match against defending champions Linfield was therefore perhaps the biggest game of the season and a 1-0 reverse is a big dent in their title aspirations.

The Club’s Sponsor is Met Steel LTD

Greatest season: Northern Ireland Double Winners 1991

Record Attendance: 10,000 several times during the 1950’s