Ireland's OLDEST football club facing MODERN struggles

Cliftonville Football Club in Belfast are the oldest football club on the island of Ireland.
I visited their stadium, Solitude, to find out more about their incredible history and what the future holds for this Northern Ireland Premiership club. Like many clubs in Ireland, their stadium infrastructure needs updating but the costs are too high.
#football #ireland #soccer

[@FootyAdventures]

What can be done to help clubs like Cliftonville improve their facilities?

[@PKFlex]

It's incredible that there is a worse government than the tory one in london, but the lazy ^*&&$&^ in Belfast somehow have managed it. If they showed up to work that could help.

[@jonathan9248-v4t]

Private investment. Stormont is a shambles.

[@ulsterisbritishf.g.a.u48]

F**K THEM SU*M HAHAHAHA Sam please do your research better lol

[@becca1927]

Sky Sports/BT Sports football blackout on a Saturday and Sunday

[@Adz2]

Government or council support, they need to see that investment in Stadia and Facilities will bring massive returns in bigger attendances and tax revenue, don't know if you've heard but there are football tourists out there 😉😂

[@connor6691]

This man’s enthusiasm for Cliftonville is incredible, he had so much knowledge! Great video Sam. I love to learn more about different leagues in the UK, here in England you don’t hear about much outside of the Premier League and maybe the Championship.

[@michealbell4826]

Sam I am the son of a Belfast native now living in Bristol and have always considered my self mainly Irish.I have followed both club football and the national Northen Irish team for over 60 years going back to the World Cup side of 1958 and my heroes like Danny Blanchflower and his brother Jackie,Jimmy Mcilroy, Peter Mcparland'Harry Gregg.My schoolboy ambition was to play for Northern Ireland and have had a playing career of 50 years in amateur football from schoolboy to senior teams here in Bristol and in the RAF, and in Australia and New Zealand. etc.My dad had the Belfast Telegraph sent over every week and I read all the reports.For no real reason I made Glenavon my team, at the time in the 50s and 60s they were quite successful. I watch the Irish League Games on Sky and listen to the National team on the radio Including last nights loss to Finland. Keep up the great work Sam. Michael Bell

[@itellyouwhy6957]

Brilliant video Sam. What a lovely man he was giving us all a look behind the scenes at Cliftonville and all the history behind it all. Superb

[@ulsterisbritishf.g.a.u48]

F**k Cliftonville pure dirt

[@onlyfourhomenations]

Love all the different clubs

[@baconhairgames.1131]

Love cliftonville

[@SdH76zhEU]

Nice hearing that from a Ranger-Fan👍!

[@onlyfourhomenations]

@@SdH76zhEU 👍🤝

[@davidbarr9343]

Excellent video. I just loved the Cliftonville official's enthusiasm for his club and Irish football in general.PLUS, his knowledge of local history, simply amazing.😀

[@tomwilson5108]

Love it when you speak to someone with such incredible knowledge

[@FootyAdventures]

Me too... David certainly knows his stuff!

[@tomwilson5108]

@Footy Adventures perfect timing as well was just looking into the history of Cliftonville after your video with them in.

[@tomtrooper6883]

What a great channel. I’m from the Republic and knew very little about this club. Great to see the stadium tours 👍

[@Joxer123]

You 100% need to get down to the Bohs vs Rovers game in Dalymount next month. The stadium has had some work done on it since you were last there and the team are progressing well on and off the pitch this season. Would be interesting to see a video similar to this with Bohs also being one of the oldest teams in Ireland.

[@rangers7259]

Without people like Dave, football would be nothing, very impressive individual. Outstanding video Sam…👏👏👍

[@depekthegreat359]

I am totally sad to hear one of my favourites Cliftonville struggling with the modern world of football but hopefully,they would prevail in the end,good friends!!!LONG LIVE,CLIFTONVILLE!!!🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️🏋‍♂️

[@powerviolentnightmare5026]

Love to see content about Cliftonville. I'm a Celtic fan and always had a deep connection not only to them but also Cliftonville.

[@ulsterisbritishf.g.a.u48]

But there is no connection lol you soap dodger 🤣

[@jaytee1671]

@@ulsterisbritishf.g.a.u48 come on… who the F uses soap these days… it’s all fancy Dan shower gels. Sooo it should be u shower gel dodger. Come on get your head into modern times. Aye Ulster is British and so is Celtic and Arbroath or Queens par. But these fans are all using shower gel not F in soap.

[@ianlayton6949]

Dave is a star!! I love the way he gently and positively navigated his way through the question around the Troubles and that football helped bring people together. I never realized how Stormont was getting in the way either. Great to see Ollie's Blades shirt in pride of place. Up the Reds/Up the Blades. ⚔️

[@gallowglass2630]

Ian Layton Don't know about that they are divisions in football/soccer up there too for example the national teams.Both communities do play it though whereas GAA and Rugby are more on sectarian lines.

[@bloodboughtbigphilr8266]

Brilliant feature Sam on such a historic and landmark Irish club. What a wonderful host and personal tour guide that Cliftonville official was. So knowledgeable and passionate about his club and an all-round nice fella.

[@kevingallagher4673]

Wow what a spokesman for a club , the passion he has is brilliant .....

[@ici_marmotte]

Amazing to have a visit at the club that once brought football to the island of Ireland. By the way, the badge of Cliftonville looks quite similar to German 4th tier side Rot-Weiß Oberhausen who are sometimes nicknamed 'die Kleeblätter' ('the clovers').

[@F1andfootballfan144]

I love these Northern Ireland videos. How many more do you have to do?

[@markjanes6200]

Hi Sam, another great video. Live the history in all this. My game is Aussie rules but love these type of videos that explain history of your football away from the big, commercialised leagues. Well done. Mark from Melbourne.

[@cameauxhair]

Great video Sam, again. To be honest, every team needs a Dave, what a lovely geeza!

[@OldSkoolWax]

Solitude is named after an old hunting lodge called Solitude that used used to stand right in the middle of the upper Waterworks resevoir. It was named Solitude obviously because when it was built in the 18th century there was nothing else near it. Built long before Belfast grew rapidly into a city. Most of North Belfast was a deer hunting park until Victorian times where lodges were built here and there for the rich landowners to move into during hunting season.

[@jerrysims6691]

Fabulously fascinating vid. I'm off to explore more of the Cliftonville FC history.

[@ivanbrown7650]

Really enjoyable video Sam - only ever see that old ground from the away stand over many years. Great history explained by a lovely bloke. Looked like you had a cracking few days in and around Belfast 👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻💙

[@neilwiltshire1467]

Superb video Sam, thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish, learned so much from it - helped in no little way by the knowldege and enthusiasm shown by the club's COO (Dave ?) ... Big thumbs up !

[@salbenrosli707]

Love the CEO's informative history and his enthusiasm. I learnt alot on this video on Cliftonville.

[@hmu05366]

Coo not ceo

[@damianmcgarvey6176]

Another good interview with Clifton ville !! Digging deep in history

[@maxsfootballchannel9808]

That's a great videoblog!!! One of the best I've seen. Great stuff!!!

[@danwatt5789]

Sam! Great content again, you're definitely brave going out there.

[@philchimbolo]

Absolutely love these vids Sam! Your extensive knowledge, along with with key club personnel, is so captivating. Thanks Sam!!

[@mauriceb53]

Superb - really enjoyed that. I remember going to Solitude during the 60s to watch the Glens play the Reds when they were amateurs. I still remember them beating us 3-0 at the Oval which was totally unexpected! Great memories from the past.

[@ianmcclean889]

Once again thank you for the video. Absolutely fantastic.

[@JayEFC1969]

One of my personal football challenges is to get round all the league grounds in ROI & NI. Hope to be spending a good bit of my summer over there some time soon.

[@JoP444]

Brilliant video Sam. Really interesting. David was fantastic too. A natural in front of camera 👍 Thanks for sharing. Investment needs to be made in Northern Ireland / Ireland and Scotland for many clubs just to survive. We don't get a look in it's all about the EPL! Disgusting amounts of money that these clubs get & it's killing the actual game. Our SFA & government are hopeless on so many levels but needs addressing asap before it's too late .Celtic fan 🍀

[@markkilvert9989]

Love the content. Really interesting learning about Scottish and Irish clubs. Keep it coming Sam

[@Zoltanlouis2009]

Brilliant video..... Cliftonville are a great club, my team in NI is Crusaders but I have a lot of time for Cliftonville. Great to hear Queens Park getting mentioned too..... I did an older club challenge a couple of years ago, went to Solitude, Hampden and The Rock, home of Wales oldest club Cefn Druids. Irish Prem is great to watch. . . Hard but fair and loads of friendly folks at the grounds Top video

[@chrisbaird4204]

Didn't think any of the videos on this trip would top when you visited the Oval last visit to NI. However this was a great episode. A lot of history to take in, and a good advertisement for the local game.

[@PKFlex]

Great video. The thing I miss most about home, and the place I miss most at home.

[@graemeharker2180]

Great video and one of your best, and it's a high bar!

[@WithGodAllThingsArePossible982]

Thanks Sam, Pal. Great video. Everyday is a school day.

[@Pjvenom1985]

Nice video go raibh maith agat for sharing. Bohemian FC fan.🔴⚫️ Might visit Belfast an go to a match soon.🍀

[@numberthirteen_]

Best intro space ever on this channel

[@adamcran9859]

Fabulous my brother 💙👍🏻⚽

[@FootyAdventures]

Cheers mate!

[@murf8433]

Class Sam keep them coming

[@Rc19977]

Loved this episode

[@callumatkins6891]

I wish people in The Irish countries Scotland and wales would support the fantastic little community clubs they already have instead of glory hunting to the old firm or English clubs, fair enough support an English club but how often will you see them live ? So why not go down and support your own local clubs too, like in Scotland in nearly every town and city it’s heavily ons firm supported instead of their local clubs hence why even some decent clubs with some history struggle for support. Wales they obviously either glory hunt for big English clubs or support the welsh teams playing in England but even then why not also give your support to a local team in the Welsh leagues too ? By what I see off Sam’s videos visiting our neighbours they are fantastic clubs up and down their leagues who need and deserve the support, surely if your Welsh, Scottish or Irish you’d rather grow your own game and see better investment and interest in your home leagues than another countries especially a country you see as a rival in a lot of cases ?

[@hmu05366]

Grew up an airdrie supporter and completely agree with you. Pretty much everyone in my school supported rangers as a child, and pretty much everyone in neighbouring Coatbridge supported Celtic. The old firm just hoovers everyone up unfortunately

[@gallowglass2630]

Its Projected that league of ireland clubs will play host to a million patrons in all competition,to put that into context thats 20% of the population.Which is well up there with gaelic football 1.2million probably ,Hurling 900 000 and rugby about the same.The Average attendance would be much lower being from 400 games whereas hurling and rugby only about 70 games ,but still 20% of the population

[@hmu05366]

@@gallowglass2630 that suggests to me that there are too many football teams in Ireland

[@wp4014]

loved what he said about having a drink with the players after the game. its why i love non league. i support a championship team but i wish the english system wasnt so big. its too much about money and i hate it more by the day i love leagues like in Northern ireland, ireland etc

[@hmu05366]

Scotland too? This channel is mainly about Scottish football so hopefully you like that too :)

[@wp4014]

@@hmu05366 ofc. I have Scottish family who support hearts and I've been to see them play a few times! Love the Scottish League

[@RonanGHarte]

I love your videos. I am Bray Wanderers fan but I have a special place in my heart for Cliftonville. I might add that you dealt with the issue of sectarianism without an sensationalism.

[@dazblue5515]

"Supporting a team on TV is not the same..." If everyone in Ireland (North and Republic) had that attitued they would have better quality football leagues as more money would be being put into it, and Liverpool and United's home games would be half empty! 😂

[@gawa4life91]

You should go to a Northern Ireland national team match. The atmosphere is amazing

[@seansmith9129]

Sam, if you want to do a good historic video, don't forget the famous Belfast Celtic.

[@iaintinsley3123]

What a top bloke. Great video

[@piarasharvey89]

Also live in that Street thanks for coming

[@noelsmith9184]

Great video Sam

[@IrishShea]

Another grand video on the island, still waiting for ya to visit Waterford FC lad 😉🍀

[@charles5553]

If he did will he visit Kilcohan Park Waterford FC old ground or the RSC

[@IrishShea]

@@charles5553 One would hope so, or even to visit Ozier Park? or perhaps a visit to Kilkenny's abandoned Buckley Park stadium? craic aplenty to be had.

[@theredarmy6747]

Need increased capacity/main stand redevelopment ---> Need funding ---> Need government

[@nigelhaworth1353]

Played there many times in the early 90s - changing in The White House. Can confirm the plunge bath was still there at that time, although not regularly used!

[@becca1927]

In regards to NIFL or the FAI the likes of sky sports destroyed the game outside of England if Scotland didn't have the old firm, Hibs or Hearts Scotland would be in the same shape

[@alanmcbeath7866]

Brilliant. Proper football

[@andreanecchi5930]

That man made me want to try to use this team on Football Manager

[@FootyAdventures]

Win Cliftonville the Champions League and I'm sure they'll have you over for a match!

[@Haponeski]

Seeing as you're on the island are you coming down to watch the Louth derby tonight between Drogheda and Dundalk in Drogheda? 👀

[@conorIrish]

Amazing video

[@FootyAdventures]

Thanks Conor

[@nathanoneill1789]

I’ve play on this pitch before a long time again

[@robertlavery6896]

Are you going to the Well game at the weekend?

[@davehunter6920]

love this stuff

[@McConnachy]

Ah, Ireland and Scotland, 2 countries that share so much, they claim they gave us whisky, but we did it better. We claim they gave us sectarianism, we also do that better 🤣We gave them football, and we are all happy 🙂 Thanks for the video Sam, I really enjoy watching and you create a bond with all football fans 👍

[@FELCRON_ESPORTS]

I play for cliftonville Academy

[@itzbread4352]

Are you going to visit Ballymena United?

[@royferguson2297]

Cliftonville used to be a great club I remember in the 60s going to Schools Cup Finals, Irish Cup Semi- Finals, County Antrim Shield Finals. Then when Distillery FC moved to outside Lisburn, a lot of their "Republican Fans" decided to support Cliftonville. In the 70s onwards going there was a nightmare police escort in Police escort out, they still have a Republican fan base but most show up when they play Linfield, Glentoran, and Crusaders, the actual stand there I believe used to be at The Oval.

[@Jack-lo5cj]

The reds went up and they won the Irish cup

[@BernardRooney-k8c]

Really had to laugh how he said people migrated to other areas

[@gary884]

Irish League is much more than Belfast Sam! Get yourself down to Larne! Their story is something else! From almost out of business to standing on the bring of something special 🏆

[@davidfalconer7823]

R u gonna go to the irish cup final

[@steve-bk1qd]

Great stuff...power to these clubs and also grassroots football

[@DunsTV]

Come see the mighty Dundela simply best in East Belfast 🟢⚪️🐔

[@colingillespie1560]

pushed the protestants out of the area is what u mean and u cant be a football club until u play a football game which requires 2 teams so both teams were the founders

[@Keviin1977]

Great video. Up the reds.

[@piarasharvey89]

I seen you there I was in at the school collecting my child

[@hmu05366]

Saw *

[@HFC786]

Please go to Drogheda United

[@EliasRoy]

Can you visit a Turkish stadium like Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, Besikitas etc.

[@hmu05366]

Nah we want more scottish Irish Welsh smaller leagues, no big clubs please

[@thesmithersy]

You can tell the guy at the start is probably sick of people stereotyping Northern Irish clubs as being associated with either particular religion because he's probably heard it all before and lived through the Troubles.

[@tonyskull4031]

Up the reds

[@tonydalton459]

The island of Island 😂

[@ianedwards1699]

Try a bulldozer lol

[@ulsterisbritishf.g.a.u48]

Cliftonville football club is in northern Ireland not Ireland lol

[@mypradasatthecleanerss]

Well it was the first football club founded in Ireland. I’m pretty sure that’s what he was referring to.

[@jkkennedy9280]

Get a grip wee orange man you’d find a way to argue with your shadow

[@ajorngjdonaydbr]

@@mypradasatthecleanerss ignore the insecure flegger

[@hmu05366]

You are in the island of Ireland get over it

[@gallowglass2630]

There was no NI at the time

[@eamongriffi1866]

Cliftonville die hard here glad you enjoyed the history of this great club 🍀⚪🔴🇮🇪

[@qprfcfromthewhitecity]

Went to Belfast last season for Bel Classico at the Oval and Cliftonville v Coleraine. Fans of both clubs were so kind and welcoming and both are fantastic stadiums. I hope Stormont can get their arses in gear and give them the money they need to improve and maintain these fantastic old stadiums

[@marcg331]

Your Northern Ireland videos have been brilliant Sam. From a Coleraine / Rangers fan 💙🤍❤️🤍💙⚽

[@FootyAdventures]

Thanks Marc! Last one for a while, but I'll be back soon

[@mattyoung1433]

Really interesting video! Solitude is the only ground I've ever visited in NI - I went there for a preseason friendly with my team (Bradford City) in 1993. Sat in the main stand and had a good chat with some of the locals. Really friendly fans. Didn't know too much about the history of the club, so it's good to find out from this video. Top work as always!

[@philexley1853]

Really enjoy your content. Great to see you plugging football in Ireland. There's a steady upswing in the level of support in the LOI. Look forward to seeing you down here.

[@trueblue1886]

Another interesting video, not just for us who are the supporters of the NIFL, but to all who love the game. Hope you enjoyed your stay in Belfast Sam and we all look forward to seeing you return to Northern Ireland soon. A very informative interview with the gentleman from CFC plus a home dinger of a derby match with Crusaders v Cliftonville and the great atmosphere of the League Cup Final with the Coleraine and Linfield support turning out in their numbers (if only we could get those crowds every week). Let's hope it's not another decade before we see money coming to the league, maybe the Glens will even be able to afford the away support the luxury of toilets.

[@Fredders88]

Could do with looking at Belfast Celtic and what happened there. Top club in the region was nationalist but the loyalists couldn't stomach it so they invaded the pitch and broke BC's top striker's leg.

[@danielpeti3885]

this was an extremely interesting video. thank you

[@Steve-gy3bx]

What a great vid, and a absolutely superb man who gave a fascinating history of the club

[@superunknown8775]

Great video Sam, as always. Loving these Northern Ireland videos 😊 As a football loving Geordie with grandparents from Newry & a wife born in Limavady, these videos are fascinating 🙌

[@caracronin05]

Hi Sam . Just wondering what app do you use to edit your videos ? Thanks

[@arfer]

I love how you go to all the less glamorous locations and tell the stories of the grass-roots teams.

[@THEFACTGUY.]

First 🎉

[@FootyAdventures]

Thanks for watching!

[@ja1295]

My Grandas from Silverstream in Belfast and use to sell apples and Dulse outside the ground on matchdays at Cliftonville, he also had an uncle who was a board member back in the 50s i think so ive got some ties to em and always try to watch em when their on bbc 🇮🇪🔥

[@allankerr1754]

NICE ONE LOVE YOUR VIDEOS WELL DONE.👍... FROM SCOTLAND.🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@FootyAdventures]

Cheers Allan!!!

[@ryanoconnor5612]

Great video 👏

[@RadioJonesy]

great story mate cheers from Tasmania

[@yourda971]

Northern ireland not ireland its a big difference

[@BelfastIsRed]

He does say island of Ireland though dummy🤦