Belfast Charity Cup

Belfast Charity Cup
Organising body	Irish Football Association
Founded	1883
Abolished	1940
Region	Northern Ireland
Most successful club(s)	Linfield (24 titles)

The Belfast Charity Cup was a football competition which ran from 1883 to 1941, and was based on a similar tournament in Scotland, the Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup. The competition was open to senior sides from Belfast and invited intermediate teams.^[1]

The last tournament was played in 1940. The following year, instead of the tournament being played, the holders Belfast Celtic played a representative match against players with cross-channel experience. The representative team won 3-1.^[2]

List of finals

Key:

	Scores level after 90 minutes. A replay was required.
(a.e.t.)	Scores level after extra time. A replay was required.
(a.e.t.)	Scores level after 90 minutes. Winner was decided in extra time with no penalty shootout required.
†	Scores level after 90 minutes. Trophy was shared.

#	Season	Winner (number of titles)	Score	Runner-up	Venue
1	1883–84	Cliftonville (1)	2 – 0	Distillery	Ulster Cricket Ground, Belfast
2	1884–85	Oldpark (1)	1 – 0	Cliftonville	Ulster Cricket Ground, Belfast
3	1885–86	Cliftonville (2)	5 – 1	Glentoran	Ulster Cricket Ground, Belfast
4	1886–87	Cliftonville (3)	3 – 2	YMCA	Ulster Cricket Ground, Belfast
5	1887–88	Cliftonville (4)	3 – 2	Linfield Athletic	Ulster Cricket Ground, Belfast
6	1888–89	Cliftonville (5)	4 – 2	Distillery	Solitude, Belfast
7	1889–90	Black Watch (1)	5 – 2	Gordon Highlanders	Ulster Cricket Ground, Belfast
8	1890–91	Linfield (1)	7 – 1	Ulster	Solitude, Belfast
9	1891–92	Linfield (2)	1 – 0	Distillery	Solitude, Belfast
10	1892–93	Linfield (3)	3 – 2	Distillery	Solitude, Belfast
11	1893–94	Linfield (4)	3 – 0	Glentoran	Solitude, Belfast
12	1894–95	Linfield (5)	3 – 1	Cliftonville	Solitude, Belfast
13	1895–96	Glentoran (1)	1 – 0	Cliftonville	Solitude, Belfast
14	1896–97	Cliftonville (6)	1 – 1	Distillery	Solitude, Belfast
14	Replay	Cliftonville (6)	6 – 2	Distillery	Solitude, Belfast
15	1897–98	North Staffordshire Regiment (1)	4 – 0	Glentoran	Solitude, Belfast
16	1898–99	Linfield (6)	2 – 1	Distillery	Solitude, Belfast
17	1899–1900	Distillery (1)	5 – 0	Linfield	Solitude, Belfast
18	1900–01	Linfield (7)	4 – 1	Distillery	Solitude, Belfast
19	1901–02	Glentoran (3)	2 – 0	Linfield	Solitude, Belfast
20	1902–03	Linfield (8)	2 – 0	Glentoran	Solitude, Belfast
21	1903–04	Belfast Celtic (1)	1 – 0	Glentoran	Solitude, Belfast
22	1904–05	Linfield (9)	2 – 0	Glentoran	Solitude, Belfast
23	1905–06	Cliftonville (6)	1 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Distillery	Solitude, Belfast
23	Replay	Cliftonville (6)	2 – 0	Distillery	Grosvenor Park, Belfast
24	1906–07	Glentoran (4)	2 – 0	Linfield	Solitude, Belfast
25	1907–08	Cliftonville (7)	3 – 1	Linfield	Grosvenor Park, Belfast
26	1908–09	Cliftonville (8)	0 – 0	Distillery	Solitude, Belfast
26	Replay	Cliftonville (8)	2 – 0	Distillery	Grosvenor Park, Belfast
27	1909–10	Belfast Celtic (2)	2 – 2 (a.e.t.)	Distillery	Solitude, Belfast
27	Replay	Belfast Celtic (2)	2 – 1	Distillery	Grosvenor Park, Belfast
28	1910–11	Glentoran	4 – 2	Belfast Celtic	Solitude, Belfast
29	1911–12	Belfast Celtic	3 – 0	Distillery	Solitude, Belfast
30	1912–13	Linfield	3 – 1	Belfast Celtic	Solitude, Belfast
31	1913–14	Linfield	1 – 0	Glentoran	Solitude, Belfast
32	1914–15	Linfield	1 – 0	Belfast Celtic	Grosvenor Park, Belfast
33	1915–16	Distillery	1 – 0	Linfield	Solitude, Belfast
34	1916–17	Linfield	1 – 0	Glentoran	Solitude, Belfast
35	1917–18	Linfield	1 – 0	Glentoran	Solitude, Belfast
36	1918–19	Linfield	1 – 0	Glentoran	Solitude, Belfast
37	1919–20	Belfast Celtic	3 – 0	Distillery	Solitude, Belfast
38	1920–21	Distillery	2 – 0	Glentoran	Solitude, Belfast
39	1921–22	Linfield	3 – 0	Cliftonville Olympic	Solitude, Belfast
40	1922–23	Glentoran	2 – 1	Crusaders	Solitude, Belfast
41	1923–24	Cliftonville	1 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Barn	Solitude, Belfast
42	1924–25	Glentoran	2 – 1	Belfast Celtic	Solitude, Belfast
43	1925–26	Belfast Celtic Glentoran	1 – 1†	—	Solitude, Belfast
44	1926–27	Linfield	5 – 2	Glentoran	Solitude, Belfast
45	1927–28	Linfield	4 – 0	Belfast Celtic	Solitude, Belfast
46	1928–29	Distillery Glentoran	3 – 3†	—	Solitude, Belfast
47	1929–30	Linfield	2 – 0	Belfast Celtic	Solitude, Belfast
48	1930–31	Distillery	4 – 2	Belfast Celtic	Grosvenor Park, Belfast
49	1931–32	Belfast Celtic	2 – 0	Linfield	Solitude, Belfast
50	1932–33	Linfield	3 – 0	Distillery	Solitude, Belfast
51	1933–34	Linfield	4 – 1	Distillery	Solitude, Belfast
52	1934–35	Linfield	1 – 1	Belfast Celtic	Solitude, Belfast
Replay	1934–35	Linfield	2 – 1	Belfast Celtic	Solitude, Belfast
53	1935–36	Belfast Celtic Linfield	2 – 2†	—	Solitude, Belfast
54	1936–37	Belfast Celtic	1 – 0	Distillery	Solitude, Belfast
55	1937–38	Linfield	3 – 1	Glentoran	Solitude, Belfast
56	1938–39	Belfast Celtic	1 – 0	Linfield	Solitude, Belfast
57	1939–40	Belfast Celtic	3 – 0	Glentoran	Solitude, Belfast

Performance by club

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning Years	Runners-up Years
Linfield	24 (1 shared)	8	1890–91, 1891–92, 1892–93, 1893–94, 1894–95, 1898–99, 1900–01, 1902–03, 1904–05, 1912–13, 1913–14, 1914–15, 1916–17, 1917–18, 1918–19, 1921–22, 1926–27, 1927–28, 1929–30, 1932–33, 1933–34, 1934–35, 1935–36 (shared), 1937–38	1887–88, 1899–1900, 1901–02, 1906–07, 1907–08, 1915–16, 1931–32, 1938–39
Belfast Celtic	10 (2 shared)	8	1903–04, 1909–10, 1911–12, 1919–20, 1925–26 (shared), 1931–32, 1935–36 (shared), 1936–37, 1938–39, 1939–40	1910–11, 1912–13, 1914–15, 1924–25, 1927–28, 1929–30, 1930–31, 1934–35
Cliftonville	10	3	1883–84, 1885–86, 1886–87, 1887–88, 1888–89, 1896–97, 1905–06, 1907–08, 1908–09, 1923–24	1884–85, 1894–95, 1895–96
Glentoran	8 (2 shared)	14	1895–96, 1901–02, 1906–07, 1910–11, 1922–23, 1924–25, 1925–26 (shared), 1928–29 (shared)	1885–86, 1893–94, 1897–98, 1902–03, 1903–04, 1904–05, 1913–14, 1916–17, 1917–18, 1918–19, 1920–21, 1926–27, 1937–38, 1939–40
Distillery	5 (1 shared)	15	1899–1900, 1915–16, 1920–21, 1928–29 (shared), 1930–31	1883–84, 1888–89, 1891–92, 1892–93, 1896–97, 1898–99, 1900–01, 1905–06, 1908–09, 1909–10, 1911–12, 1919–20, 1932–33, 1933–34, 1936–37
Oldpark	1	0	1884–85	—
Black Watch	1	0	1889–90	—
North Staffordshire Regiment	1	0	1897–98	—
YMCA	0	1	—	1886–87
Gordon Highlanders	0	1	—	1889–90
Ulster	0	1	—	1890–91
Cliftonville Olympic	0	1	—	1921–22
Crusaders	0	1	—	1922–23
Barn	0	1	—	1923–24

Sources

Malcolm Brodie, "100 Years of Irish Football", Blackstaff Press, Belfast (1980)

References

^ "Belfast Charity Cup". Irish Football Club Project. Archived from the original on 2015-10-31. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
^ "Belfast Charity Competition. A Representative Match Instead Of Usual Cup Tourney". Belfast Telegraph. 16 May 1941. p. 6.

External links

Irish League Archive - Belfast Charity Cup

[1] "Belfast Charity Cup". Irish Football Club Project. Archived from the original on 2015-10-31. Retrieved 2 September 2019.

[2] "Belfast Charity Competition. A Representative Match Instead Of Usual Cup Tourney". Belfast Telegraph. 16 May 1941. p. 6.

[1]