Glentoran Forever

 

The Oval, East Belfast. Home of Glentoran FC

A week ago I woke up to a text from my friend, a fellow Glentoran supporter telling me that the club were being threatened with administration. We all know the Glens have debt but news like that still leaves you with that awful punched in the stomach feeling. It’s the kind of news every football fan dreads. I haven’t written anything about it until now, probably because the thought of what could happen to our club if we do go into administration is too horrible to consider.

Formed in 1882 Glentoran is one of the oldest clubs on the island of Ireland. Glentoran football club is steeped in a rich and wonderful history, it’s knitted into the fabric of East Belfast. As important to the East as the Shipyard, Shorts, Geordie Best, Van Morrison, Billy Bingham and the Blanchflower brothers. The Oval stands proudly as part of East Belfast’s iconic skyline along with the Samson and Goliath cranes of the Harland and Wolff Shipyard where so many generations of Glenmen earned a wage building some of the finest ships ever to set sail. The Shipyard has near enough fallen silent along with the Ropeworks, once such a big part of East Belfast. And now Glentoran FC, the Pride of East Belfast, is under threat.

 

Celebrating a goal at the Oval

The thought of losing Glentoran Football Club doesn’t bear thinking about. The club has been the source of so much joy, and heartache, for generations of people from East Belfast and further afield. Too many people in Northern Ireland dismiss the Irish League without giving it a chance, prefering the glamour of the English Premiership or La Liga. Well frig that! Give me a Saturday standing on a terrace in Dungannon, Coleraine or Newry or a midweek trip to Portadown or Ballymena any day over having to sit where you’re told in a stadium with no character watching a load of overpaid egotisical brats, Wayne Rooney I mean you.

 

 

 

Success for the Glens

When I’m home from University, and usually it’s a trip home to watch the Glens, I sometimes walk the 15 minutes from my house down to the Oval, a walk I took every other week before I could drive. When you reach the bottom of the Belmont Road over the roofs of the terrace houses packed into the streets off Pim’s Avenue the huge green structure of the Oval’s main stand comes into sight, the towering cranes of Harland and Wolff just a bit further away. This is when the excitement starts to mount. On down Pim’s Avenue, passing a blueman who never seems to go to games but just stands ready to dish out abuse to passing Glens fans, and on to Connsbrook Avenue before turning on to Parkgate Avenue and Mersey Street. Glens fans come pouring out of the streets that surround Mersey Street, over the bridge and the songs being blasted out over the tannoy can be heard. A right turn past the church into Parkgate Drive and there it is, the Oval, red, green and black, towering over the surrounding houses and the old Mersey Street Primary School, chitter chatter from the fans making their way down the street and the clink of the turnstyles, the familiar and friendly face of Robert Hill, who sadly passed away last month, with his wee tin collecting for the Cedar Foundation. Beyond the turnstyles and over the music the programme sellers can be heard shouting “programme ‘o the match” in thick Belfast accents, the familiar voice of Gil comes over the tannoy to announce the teams. Taking my seat in the upper deck of the Main stand or on the terrace of the Sydenham end for the teams running out there is always a surge of pride. It may sound cheesy but it’s like home. The banter flows freely, hearts are frequently in mouths at close calls, the abuse at opposition players and managers knows no bounds and when the Glens score the sheer unadultered joy is a feeling that would be worth millions if it could be bottled.

 

 

Boxing Day 2007

Glentoran Fc have given me some of my best memories, I’m sure other fans will agree. Boxing Day 2007, live on Sky Sports, Michael Halliday popped up with the winner against Linfield at the Oval. Best birthday present ever! I was sat in the family stand with friends and will never forget Leeper and Nicky running towards us roaring in celebration, fists clenched and arms raised in victory at the sound of the final whistle. Another win over the Blues, Morgan Day, 23rd April 2005, who could forgot that game, the injury time winner and going on to lift the Gibson Cup at Seaview the week after. The 08/09 season which saw the title race go right to the wire with the Glens winning the last game of the season against Cliftonville at the Oval to claim the Gibson Cup again. The Oval was packed that day and I remember arriving to find the queue at the turnstyles stretching the length Parkgate Drive and up Mersey Street. The excitement and anticapation that day could be felt throughout East Belfast. Just about the only proper father daughter time I’ve spent with my dad has been watching the Glens. Trips to watch pre season friendlies against the likes of Killymoon Rangers. With him being born in Lurgan and having watched Glenavon as a boy before moving to the Holylands in south Belfast I’ve dragged him along to a few Glentoran v Glenavon games and I love it, just as thousands of kids have enjoyed watching the Glens their old man. The cross border trips to watch the Glens compete in the Setanta Cup have also provided some great memories. Drogheda away in the semi final in 2008 on a week night, we won that game to go through and play Cork in the Final in Cork, another great trip despite the result. Of course there’s also the Irish Cup Final days, these are always that extra bit special, remember the 1996 Cup Final and Glen Little’s winning goal? And Michael Halliday’s winning goals against Linfield in 2001 and Coleraine in 2004.One of my best memories came in 2007. It’s been a pleasure to witness some great games of football at the Oval and around the country in my 22 years. As part of Paul Leeman’s Testimonial year I played in one of the ‘Live your Dream’ games. I can honestly tell you that if I had of died the next day I would have died happy! To play alongside Leeman and John Devine and against Jim Cleary at the Oval where so many legends, not just of the Irish League but of International football, have played was unbelievable.

 

 

 

The Oval

Glentoran FC are known as the people’s club. Above the tunnel leading out on to the pitch at the Oval is a picture of the Glentoran crest, the motto is Le Jeu Avant Tout, the game before everything. Under the crest is a quote from former player/manager John Colrain made in 1967, one of the club’s most successful years. It reads: “The secret of Glentoran’s success is sacrificing individual ability for the sake of teamwork and all round team effort.” In the week since the news came through about the threat of administration two groups, ‘Save Glentoran’ and ‘Spirit of  ’41’ have been set up to try and get the club out of this situation and fundraisers have been organised. I spent manys a cold Sunday morning down at the Oval with the guys from the Glentoran Foundation who put their various skills together to do jobs around the club for free. We painted, renovated toilets, fixed leaky roofs and created a family stand. Someone even thought it would be a good idea to let me help with the roof in that stand, thankfully it hasn’t caved in yet. I loved those Sunday mornings, the crack was mighty. That’s the spirit that exists at Glentoran Football Club, everyone, coaches, players, club officials and supporters all muck in when the club is in need. It’s that spirit which will see us through this latest crisis.

 

Before the ‘Sunday club’ I used to go to games alone. Going to an all girls school there weren’t too many of my friends wanting to spend their Saturdays travelling the length and breadth of Northern Ireland watching Irish League football. At the Oval I used to sit in the lower deck of the Main stand with the auld fellas. I loved their stories, they’d seen it all, the night the first time a team visited in a European competition in the form of Real Zaragoza, the night we drew with a Eusebio inspired Benfica team, the exploits of the Detroit Cougars that same season, the night Juventus came to East Belfast, the day George Best finally donned the famous red, green and black in a game against Manchester United at the Oval and tales passed down to them of Vienna Cup success in 1914. They told of the old days of the Irish League, running battles in the Shed, the trips to grounds up and down the country by any means necessary at the height of the Troubles, the players who became legends for the club. They hurled the best abuse too, political correctness, what’s that?! Sadly some of those old timers are no longer with us along with others who were taken before their time but they all left their mark on the club.

 

Glentoran v Benfica 1967

In 1941 the German bombers came and destroyed Belfast and with it the Oval. Not even the playing kit survived. The Oval was full of water from the Connswater river. The Main stand a twisted wreckage, mangled beyond recognition, the terraces in pieces and records destroyed. The Oval, home to Glentoran since 1892 was in bits. A vote was taken on the future of the club and despite the fact that the club had nothing the vote was for Glentoran to carry on. Lisburn Distillery kindly allowed the use of their Grosvenor Road ground and the Glens played in kits belonging to Distillery and Crusaders. The Glens finished third that season. The ‘Back to the Oval’ fund was set up. While the Oval remained a pond, a playground for the children of East Belfast, the people of East Belfast worked hard to get the club home. On August 20th 1949 the Glens returned home to the Oval. That first game back was against Linfield in the City Cup. It’s said that women and children, some of whom hadn’t witnessed football at the Oval, came out on to the streets to watch as the men flocked back to the Oval, 25,000 of them (pre Health and Safety). After eight long years and a lot of hard work the Glens were home and this is where the newly formed ‘Spirit of ’41’ got it’s name.

Back to the Oval, 1949

 

This is why Glentoran Football Club will not die! There is too much history, it is too much a part of East Belfast and the supporters care too much to let it happen. Hitler and the German Luftwaffe couldn’t defeat us in 1941 and we sure as hell won’t let the taxman defeat us in 2010! Get yourselves down to the Oval early tomorrow for the rally to show your support for the club before the game against Distillery. BLESS ‘EM ALL!!

As I lay upon, my bed last night,
I fell into a dream,
I dreamt the European Cup,
Was one by a Belfast team,
And the Newtownards Road!
It overflowed,
Like the 12th day of July,
Oh and what a sight, it was to see,
The Glens go o marching by,
Red, Green and Black, upon my neck,
The colours I know well,
And you can bet, a big rosette,
Was pinned to my lapel,
For we’ll shout and scream,
For our wee team,
Till our hearts begin to burn,
So f*** the rest, for we’re the best,
There’s only one Glentoran