Cliftonville Hockey Club is a hockey club based at C.I.Y.M.S. Sports Club, Circular Road, Belfast. Home fixtures are played on a sand-filled artificial surface. The club was founded in 1896 and was one of the founding members of the Ulster Hockey Union. The 1st XI currently plays in the Ulster Senior League. The first reported match was played against North Down at Comber in November 1896 where an eight-goal to nil loss was recorded.
Field hockey is a team game of the hockey family. The earliest origins of the game date back to the Middle Ages in Pakistan. The game can be played on grass, water turf, artificial turf or synthetic field as well as an indoor board surface. Each team plays with eleven players, including the goalie. Players use sticks made out of wood, carbon fibre, fibre glass or a combination of carbon fibre and fibre glass in different quantities to hit a round, hard, plastic ball. The length of the stick depends on the player's individual height. Only one face of the stick is allowed to be used. Goalies often have a different kind of stick, however they can also use an ordinary field hockey stick. The specific goal-keeping sticks have another curve at the end of the stick, this is to give them more surface area to save the ball. The uniform consists of shin guards, shoes, shorts, a mouth guard and a jersey. Today, the game is played globally, mainly in parts of Western Europe, South Asia, Southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and parts of the United States. Known simply as "hockey" in many territories, the term "field hockey" is used primarily in Canada and the United States where ice hockey is more popular. In Sweden, the term "landhockey" is used and to some degree also in Norway where it is governed by Norway's Bandy Association.
The Ulster Hockey Union is the governing body field hockey in Ulster. It is affiliated to Hockey Ireland.
North Down Hockey Club is a field hockey club affiliated to the Ulster Branch of the Irish Hockey Association. The club was founded in 1896.
Belfast, is the capital city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast of Ireland. It is the largest city in Northern Ireland and second-largest on the island of Ireland. It had a population of 333,871 as of 2015.
Solitude is a football stadium in Belfast, Ireland. It is the oldest football stadium in Ireland, and the home ground of Ireland's oldest football club, Cliftonville. The stadium holds 6,224, but is currently restricted to 2,530 under safety legislation.
Cliftonville Cricket Club was a cricket club in Northern Ireland, playing in the NCU Senior League.
In late August 1972, the clubhouse was burned and looted during civil unrest. Physical intimidation prevented the members from entering the grounds. The club sought help without success from local and government authorities, in the hope that the club could be protected and assisted in the continue playing hockey and cricket at the ground. As a result, the club abandoned the ground and took up a nomadic existence.[1]
The first grounds used in exile were the Girls' Model School pitches at Dunkeld Gardens. In 1981, the club moved to Boucher Road Playing Fields. Then, in 1986, the Boucher Playing Fields were closed and Cliftonville moved to the Queen's University pitches until taking over the tenancy of Belfast YMCA all-weather pitch at Bladon Drive in 1987.
Belfast Model School for Girls is an all-girls' school located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Also Known as "G.M.S". In 2006, the school was granted specialist school status for ICT, one of only 12 schools in Northern Ireland to achieve this. It is within the Belfast Education and Library Board area.
Queen's University Belfast is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The university was chartered in 1845, and opened in 1849 as "Queen's College, Belfast".
In 1992, the decision was made that all 1st XI home games would be played on the artificial pitch at the Olympia Leisure Centre.
The club found a new permanent home with CIYMS Sports Club at Belmont in 2004.
Today the historic original ground is the property of the Belfast City Council and is used by the local community but not for cricket or hockey.
Belfast City Council is the local authority with responsibility for part of the city of Belfast, the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. The Council serves an estimated population of 333,871 (2011), the largest of any district council in Northern Ireland, while also being the fourth smallest by area. Belfast City Council is the primary council of the Belfast Metropolitan Area, a grouping of six district councils with commuter towns and overspill from Belfast, containing a total population of 579,276.
1960s and 1970s
Between 1945, when competitive hockey resumed after World War II, and 1962 the club did not win any senior trophies. Indeed, the 1st XI were relegated from the Ulster Senior League to Qualifying League in 1958–59. The team won promotion straight back and over the next twenty years enjoyed its best and most consistent period of success.[tone]
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
In 1963–64, the 2nd XI won the Irish Junior Cup, this has proved to be the only success in this competition.[2]
The Ulster Senior League was won seven times between the 1966–67 and 1975–76 seasons, and they were runners-up in 1965–66, 1969–70 and 1974–75. The Anderson Cup and Kirk Cup were also won in this period.
The Irish Senior Cup was won in 1974–75 and 1975–76, for only the second and third time in the club's history.[3][4] This led to qualification to play in the European cup-winners' competition.
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