Limavady United F.C.

Limavady United
Full name Limavady United Football Club
Nickname(s) "The Roesiders"'/'"The Lims"
Founded 1884
Ground The Showgrounds, Limavady
County Londonderry
Ground Capacity 1,500
League NIFL Championship 2
2015–16 NIFL Championship 2, 1st
Website Club home page

Limavady United Football Club is an intermediate, Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League. The club comes from Limavady, County Londonderry, and plays home matches at the Showgrounds. Club colours are royal blue shirts with white trim, blue socks and white shorts. The current manager is Paul Owens, who took over from Neil Mullan in January 2015

History

The club was formed in 1884 when Alexander (formed in 1880 by the Alexander Cricket Club,[1] which itself was formed some time before 1880 (usually claimed to be 1876)) amalgamated with another local club The Wanderers. Alexander had been a founder member of the Irish Football Association in 1880, contributing to the purchase of the original Irish Cup.

Nicknamed "The Roesiders" or "The Lims", in 1885 and 1886 the club reached consecutive Irish Cup Finals, losing both to Distillery - the first 3–0 and the second 1–0. After a protest by Limavady in 1886 the result was confirmed, but medals were withheld from both teams in spite of a challenge in the High Court by a Distillery player. Between 1882 and 1888, the club provided seven internationals to the Irish national football team. The club also famously travelled to Liverpool in 1886, and defeated Everton 1–0- the first team from outside Great Britain to do so.

After a long time as a junior team, the club joined the senior Irish Football League in 1997–98, and reached its first Irish Cup semi-final in over a century in 2003–04. In 2008, the club lost its senior status when it failed to gain admission to the new IFA Premiership. Since then, the club has played in the IFA Championship.

In April 2013, three players received suspensions after being found guilty of breaching IFA betting rules on one of the club's league matches.[2]

The club won the NIFL Championship 2 in the 2015-2016 season but were denied promotion to Championship 1 as they were unsuccessful in applying for a licence

Carlos Tevez loan

In September 2011, the club vice chairman David Brewster issued a fax to Manchester City, offering to take Argentinian International Carlos Tevez on loan after the player had refused to go on as a substitute in a UEFA Champions League fixture. The club offer suggested that they would ensure Tevez stayed match fit and would avoid being cup tied, but asked that City continued to pay his reported £200,000 per week wages, a figure higher than Limavady's entire turnover for a year.

The offer, although meant as tongue in cheek became global headline news with some news agencies believing the offer to be a serious one. The story gained the club brief worldwide recognition although Manchester City themselves did not respond.[3]

Former Crest

Honours

Senior honours

Intermediate honours

Junior honours

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
Northern Ireland GK Paul Wells
Northern Ireland GK Ray Kelly
Northern Ireland DF Marcus O'Kane
Northern Ireland DF Ryan Mullan
Northern Ireland DF Bryan McClelland
Northern Ireland DF Lee Harkin
Northern Ireland DF Andrew Devlin
Northern Ireland DF Declan McKeever
Northern Ireland MF Gareth McFadden
No. Position Player
Northern Ireland MF Paul Owens
Republic of Ireland MF Hugh Carlin
Northern Ireland MF Blain Morrison
Northern Ireland FW Corey McMullan
Northern Ireland FW Conor Harkin
Northern Ireland MF Gerard Logue
Northern Ireland MF Gareth Tommons
Northern Ireland FW Cathair Friel

External links

References

  1. ↑ Belfast Newsletter, 12 October 1880
  2. ↑ "Three Limavady United players banned over betting scandal". BBC Sport. 18 April 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  3. ↑ "Limavady United's loan offer to Manchester City's Carlos Tevez". BBC News. 28 September 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
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