Lurgan Celtic F.C.
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| Lurgan Celtic | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Lurgan Celtic Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | The Bhoys | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1903 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Knockramer Park (Capacity Unknown) |
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| Chairman | Gareth Mackey | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | Pat McGibbon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | Irish First Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006-07 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Lurgan Celtic are based in Lurgan, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, and play in the Irish First Division. Their home ground is Knockrammer Park. The club was formed in 1903 and play in a similar strip to that of Scotland's Celtic F.C, the famous Glasgow club. Chairman Gareth Mackey, who is a Lurgan native and local nightclub owner, took over the club in June 2007
[edit] History
Lurgan Celtic were originally formed in 1903 with the obvious slant of aiming towards the Catholic community of the town, adopting the name and colours of the famous Glasgow Celtic, the hugely popular Scottish club among Irish catholics. At the time it was a bold move to try and break into the world of soccer. The Gaelic Athletic Association was in its early stages and was keen to promote Irish sport for the Irish people and football in particular was discouraged. A change in attitudes gradually took hold in the early seventies and Lurgan Celtic were reborn to try their luck again in the local soccer scene, quickly rising to become one of the strongest clubs in the Craigavon area. League membership remained elusive during these years, partly due to the presence of Glenavon just down the road at a time when the IFA were trying to reach out to new footballing towns. There was also a suggestion that it was Lurgan's clearly catholic stance as they pushed for membership of what was considered a Protestant league that stood in their way. So strongly was this felt that the club joined forces with Belfast club Donegal Celtic, another club who took their name and kit from the Glasgow club, and threatened the Irish league with legal action to gain league membership. The restructuring of the league in the early part of the 21st Century spared everyone's blushes with both clubs gaining admission and all parties concerned able to retain their point of view without having to prove it in court. It would most likely have been a bitter wrangle and while the clubs would have been able to argue a strong point that historicly the league wasn't keen on clubs with a catholic outlook, the league by contrast would have been able to look at both club's facilities as a strong argument against their membership. That point wasn't lost on Lurgan and in 2003 they locked the gates on their town centre ground and relocated to share Oxford United's ground on the edge of Lurgan at Knockrammer Park, which offered better facilities for all. Lurgan were confident that they would quickly establish themselves as a strong force in Irish league football but their first season in Division 1 was a shocker and the club found themselves being surprisingly relegated to Division 2. In 2007/08 Celtic are sitting mid-table in Division 1, after being promoted the season before from Division 2.
