Nortel Football Club

Formed as Standard Telephones and Cables, they entered the NAFL in the 1964/65 season. Subsequently the name was abbreviated to STC and in 1991 became Northern Telecom when the Canadian Company acquired STC and changed to Nortel in 2001.

The Club had a nomadic existence in its early years. The first home ground was at Abbots Cross followed by a spell at Vints Corner and then the old pitch adjacent to the factory that proved unplayable during the wet spells. There then followed sharing at Ballyclare Comrades, Chimney Corner and Brantwood before finally returning to the new facilities at Monkstown Avenue in 1980 where the club has two pitches and overall excellent facilities

The Club’s first game in the Amateur League in September 1964 resulted in a 2-1 win over Ulster Creameries at Abbots Cross with Roy Kernoghan scoring the first competitive goal. In the ensuing 42 years the club has won a total of 24 Amateur League trophies between the first and second teams with most of the successes coming in the period from 1980 to 2000.

The club won Division 2A in 1968/69 and were runners-up in the same division the following season, successes which resulted in promotion to Division 1B and into intermediate football. The only cup success during the junior period was runner-up in the Cochrane Corry Cup in season 1965/66.

The team adapted quickly to the higher level and were runners-up in Division 1B in 1973/74 gaining promotion to Division 1A, then the top Division within the Amateur League. In the same season cup success was achieved with the defeat of East Belfast in the final of the Clarence Cup at Solitude. Transition to 1A was easily bridged and in 1974/75 the final of the Border Cup was reached only to suffer a 1-0 defeat by Chimney Corner in the last minute of extra time at Taylors’ Avenue.

The team was relegated to Division 1B twice in the 1980’s but on both occasions returned to the top Division at the first attempt. After promotion back to 1A in 1982/83 the double of Division 1A championship and the Border Cup was achieved. Added to this was defeat, after a replay, in the Steel and Sons Cup semi-final and losing in the quarterfinal of the Irish F.A. Intermediate Cup making this season the most successful in the club’s history.

In 1985-86 the club completed a cup double by winning both the Border and Clarence cups. They also won the Border in season 1990/91 when Bangor Amateurs were the opposition at Ballyclare’s Dixon Park and the fourth success was in 1999/2000 when Ards Rangers were defeated 2-0 on the 28th December 1999 at Wilgar Park. The significance of this game is that Nortel won the Border in the last Amateur League game of the 20th century and the 2nd Millennium.

Northern Telecom was a founder member of the Premier Section of the League when it was formed in 1991 and have been there ever since, achieving notable success by winning the title in successive seasons 1995/96 and 1996/97 and becoming the first team to retain the Premier title. Since the first manager Raymond McKeague in 1964 the club has had some notable incumbents such as Barry McClung (17 years) followed by Jim Brown, Roy McDonald, Billy Patterson, Eddie Campbell, Robert Connor and current manager Ricky Beggs, who in two spells has served a total of 16 years as first team manager. Billy Patterson and Ricky Beggs have had the distinction of managing the Amateur League representative team in the annual game against the Scottish A.F.A.

After a 3-year spell in the 1990’s Ricky has been reappointed to the representative role in 2005/06 and has been joint manager of the League’s U18 team that have participated in the European Championship in Italy for the past three years.

On the playing front the club has provided 27 players to the league representative team since 1979 and is most renowned for its goalkeepers George McKane, Eddie Campbell, Brendan Collins, George Cathcart and David Haggan who have all played for the League. Bobby Close, Paul Foy and Jody Hill have captained and Peter Horn and Erin Montgomery have scored for the representative team.

Eddie Campbell and David Haggan have both won the Amateur League player of the year accolade while Stephen Richardson and Jim Taylor have won ‘Man of the Match’ awards in the Border Cup Finals of 1990/91 and 1999/2000 respectively.

The Nortel second team have achieved considerable success since their formation in 1978 by winning Division 3A (5 times), Walter Moore Cup (8 times), Templeton Cup and were runners-up in the Co. Antrim Junior shield 1983/84.