Ballymacash Rangers F.C.

Ballymacash Rangers Football Club is an intermediate-level football club playing in the Intermediate A division of the Mid-Ulster Football League in Northern Ireland. The club is based in Lisburn and play their home games at The Bluebell Stadium.

Full nameBallymacash Rangers Football Club
Nickname(s)The Cash
Founded1984
GroundBluebell Stadium
Lisburn, Co. Antrim[1]
ManagerLee Forsythe
LeagueMid-Ulster Football League Intermediate A

History

Ballymacash Rangers won the top tier (Intermediate A) of the Mid-Ulster Football League in the 2003/04 season. Following this the club had a trophy barren spell up until the 2012/13 season when following a relegation from Intermediate A, the club found themselves in Intermediate B. A successful 2012/13 campaign saw them lift the Intermediate B title which was followed up by winning the Mid-Ulster Football League Alan Wilson Cup to make it a double winning season.

Ballymacash Rangers went the entire calendar year of 2014 without defeat in a league fixture, winning all of their league games bar two. The club amazingly never won the Mid-Ulster Football League Intermediate A in either season that 2014 covered, coming second in 2013/14 and third in 2014/15.

In 2019, the club announced their aspirations to gain promotion to the Northern Ireland Football League alongside plans to complete a million pound renovation of The Bluebell, the ground where Ballymacash play their home games.

In 2020, the club completed the first phase of their ground renovavations as they opened a state of the art full sized 3G pitch with floodlights. This was a community funded project which is the first model of its kind in Northern Ireland. The model used was similar to that of FC United of Manchester. Future phases include developing a new social club with onsite gym, expand car parking facilities and build the first ever pitchside stand at the ground.

In February 2021, Ballymacash welcomed the first ever United States of America born player to play for the club. Goalkeeper Matt Broomall signed to play for the club whilst on a goalkeeping scholarship in the country.

Manager

Michael Gault was appointed manager in June 2019. He resigned from his managerial role on 3 October 2020 to take up a role at Linfield. On 11 October 2020, Ballymacash appointed former Ard Rangers and Knockbreda man Lee Forsythe as new manager.

Honours
Intermediate

Since becoming an Intermediate level club, Ballymacash Rangers have won six Intermediate honours:

Notable players

Northern Ireland Senior Internationals

  • Michael Gault was appointed player manager of Ballymacash Rangers in July 2019. Michael has received one full international cap for Northern Ireland
  • Rory Patterson joined Ballymacash Rangers in September 2019 following his release from Crusaders. Rory has received five full international caps for Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland U21 Internationals


Other Notable Players

League position

All standings are taken from the Mid-Ulster Football League archive section which dates back to 2008/09 season

  • 2008/09 - Intermediate A - 6th
  • 2009/10 - Intermediate A - 12th
  • 2010/11 - Intermediate B - 5th
  • 2011/12 - Intermediate B - 5th
  • 2012/13 - Intermediate B - 1st
  • 2013/14 - Intermediate A - 3rd
  • 2014/15 - Intermediate A - 2nd
  • 2015/16 - Intermediate A - 8th
  • 2016/17 - Intermediate A - 11th
  • 2017/18 - Intermediate A - 10th
  • 2018/19 - Intermediate A - 9th
  • 2019/20 - Intermediate A - 2nd**

**2019/20 season was cut short due to COVID-19 pandemic and the table was determined by a points-per-game formula**

References
  1. "Mid Ulster Football League Club Guides". Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
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