Limavady United F.C.

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 Mark Clyde, who took over from Sean Friars in 2019.

Limavady United
Full nameLimavady United Football & Athletic Club
Nickname(s)"The Roesiders"', '"The Lims"
Founded1884
GroundThe Showgrounds, Limavady
County Londonderry
Capacity1,500
ManagerMark Clyde
LeagueNIFL Premier Intermediate League
2018–19NIFL Championship, 12th (relegated)
WebsiteClub website

History

The club was formed in 1884 when Alexander (formed in 1880 by the Alexander Cricket Club, which itself was formed in 1878) amalgamated with another local club, Wanderers. Alexander had been a founder member of the Irish Football Association in 1880, contributing to the purchase of the original Irish Cup.[1]

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 played in the IFA Championship until relegation in May 2019.

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 NIFL Championship 1 as they were unsuccessful in applying for a licence. However they were promoted as winners of the Premier Intermediate League in 2016-2017

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]

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
GK Paul Wells
GK Connor Brown
DF Marcus O'Kane
DF Gareth McFadden
DF Emmet Friars
DF Caoimhin McCallion
DF Nathan Harkin
MF Gary McFadden
No. Position Player
MF Ryan Devine
MF Ryan Doherty
MF Hugh Carlin
MF Oran McConnell
FW Aiden McCauley
FW Alex Pomeroy
FW Sean McCarron
FW Stephen Duffy

Honours
Former crest

Senior honours
  • County Derry Cup/North West Senior Cup: 10
    • 1886–87, 1887–88, 1888–89,1892–93, 1993–94, 1998–99, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2015–16, 2018-19
  • North West Charity Cup: 1
    • 1892–93

Intermediate honours

Junior honours
  • Irish Junior Cup: 1
    • 1963–64
  • North West City Cup: 3
    • 1923–24, 1960–61, 1966–67
  • North West Junior League: 1
    • 1968–69

References
  1. Northern Whig, 8 December 1884; 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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