Belfast and District League
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Belfast and District League was a senior football league existing in Northern Ireland between 1890 and 1901. Although the league technically served the entire north of Ireland, only two clubs outside Belfast ever competed in the league, Derry Olympic and Derry Celtic. The league did however contain part-time teams who were set up in Belfast for possibly one or two years on several occasions, including Belfast YMCA, Lancashire Fusiliers, North Staffordshire and Royal Scots Regiment.
The league was dominated in the early years by Linfield, the club finishing top in the first three seasons. However, they would only ever win it twice more, with Glentoran, Lisburn Distillery and Belfast Celtic winning the rest of the titles. At the end of the 1900-01 season, the league was replaced as the top tier league in Northern Irish football by the Irish League Division A which now allowed teams from the whole of Ireland to compete.
