Glenavy FC celebrate 100 years
Glenavy FC First team
2010 is a very exciting year for Glenavy Football Club as they compete 100 years in competitive football.
On Friday, May 28 the club will be holding a Centenary Dinner Dance to celebrate this occasion. The club will be inviting all those whom have played or been part of the Glenavy team during those years.
There are many who have passed away but many from years gone by are still alive. Glenavy Football Club prides itself on being a non-sectarian team with both sides of the community being well represented. During all the years of violence, Glenavy Football Club stayed together and socialised as good team mates do, the Club has made a great contribution to community relations in Glenavy and the surrounding area.
Glenavy FC Reserves.
In 2004, after a lot of research and talking to older members, it was established Glenavy started playing competitive football in 1910. It is known that a team existed before this, but 1910 is the year competitive football was played.
It was probably not until 1927 Glenavy were more recognised when they began life in the Churches League, but when the Lisburn league was formed Glenavy soon moved and supported local football in the mid 60's after a fatal accident, the death of the manager the late Charlie Harbinson. Sandy Wilson took over the manager's job at the tender age of 18 along with the help of Mervyn Wilson and Cyril Farr.
Soon Sandy took complete control of the club and through good and bad was ever present. In the 70's Sandy shared management with his cousin Roy Wilson and between them they finished with a lot of high placing in the top division of the Lisburn league. Late in the 70's things got into a mess and Glenavy Football Club lost a lot of the team, it was at that stage Sandy showed his qualities, he took the remnants of a depleting team and the then third division and began to rebuild the team.
The team was made up with names like Carrs, Grants, McNicholls and Phillips who helped win the 3rd and 2nd division in consecutive years in a true rags-to-riches story. Amazingly within three short years the new-look Glenavy won the McCusker cup, the club's first major success at Lisburn league level.
That same year they were runner-up in the first division, but in the true Glenavy style, the team lost a lot of players as envious clubs spotted Glenavy's achievements, and left the village boys dropping into division two. But a few years later Glenavy earned promotion into the top flight and renamed remained there until 2004 when they moved into the Mid-Ulster league, starting in division four and after a few seasons getting promotion into division three.
This meant a lot of travelling for players and under the management of Sandy Wilson and assistant manager Gary Dalzell, the team
An old pic of one of the Glenavy teams.
Ulster Star
07/05/2010
