Full name YMCA Football Club League Irish Football League | Dissolved 1892 Founded 1883 | |
Ground Prospect 1883-87; Shaftesbury Ground 1887-89; Enfield 1891 | ||
YMCA Football Club is a former Irish football club based in Belfast, formed by the members of the Belfast YMCA. It was founded in 1883 and competed as a senior club in the Irish Cup. Its best season was 1888-89, when the club reached the final of both the Irish Cup and the first County Antrim Shield, losing to Distillery on both occasions. The club also competed that season in the 1888-89 FA Cup. Later in 1889, however, the club folded, with most players joining Cliftonville, in what was described as an "amalgamation". In 1891, however, the YMCA Athletic Club acquired the Enfield ground on the Crumlin Road with a view to reviving the football team for the 1891-92 season. The revival was not a success, however, and the team, bottom of the league, resigned before Christmas. The club appears to have folded in 1892