Welders

Harland & Wolff Welders  0  Newington  1

Irish Football League – Championship

Admission / Programme – £8 / None

I can remember vividly the turn of events that saw me pay my visit to the old Tillysburn Park home of Harland & Wolff Welders.

It was back in October 2013 and I’d got my usual Autumn weekend planned, Derry City v Limerick on the Friday night, and then Bangor v Coagh United on the Saturday. I can’t remember exactly why I did this, but I engaged in an online conversation with the then Bangor FC Chairman Trevor Best, probably to find out what time they opened the bar on match day or something, but anyway, we got chatting in the couple of weeks building up to the game.

Then, news broke in the week leading up to the game that the Bangor Manager Garth Scates had lost his wife in a tragic car accident near Comber, and as a result the game the following Saturday had been quite rightly postponed as a mark of respect. I found out early about it because Trevor contacted me to tell me.

I had a re-think and decided to stay on the East side of Belfast and head to the derby game between the Welders and local rivals Dundela, but, given the fact Trevor had been hugely helpful in the build up, I asked him if he fancied joining me at the game so I could buy him a pint. To cut a long story short, he got back to me and said he would, and on a wet day as I walked from the bus stop into the car park, Trevor and his fellow director of Bangor, Mo, jumped out of a van and introduced themselves. I know what you are thinking, two blokes jumping out of a van in a car park in Belfast to introduce themselves…….I’m still here to tell the story!

It was a belting game, it finished 6-3 to Dundela, probably the best game I’ve seen on the island, and Trevor was great company. He blagged me in for nowt (I would have paid but he insisted), introduced me to a few people, we had a couple of beers, and of course we stood in silence to pay respect to Lesley Scates.

Myself and Mrs H did get to meet Trevor again, ironically at the end of the same season when they needed a win in the final game at home to seal the league title, they only drew, and the opponents that day, of course, the Welders!

So lets fast forward, even back then the Welders were talking about moving to a new ground, and even then that new ground was next door to Tillysburn Park, at Blanchflower Park, a location that sits between the Hollywood Road and the main dual carriageway that takes you East to Bangor and past George Best City Airport.

They’ve now moved in, finally, playing their first game at the new home last season, Blanchflower Park was now open for business.

Before we go on to talk about the club and the events of the day, can I just say, Harland & Wolff Welders FC, what a quite superb name for a football club. I mean, just to be named after probably the most famous ocean liner builders of the World is one thing, but to be named after a department that joins metal together at ridiculously high temperatures is another thing altogether. Just out of curiosity, back in the day, did you have to be a welder to play for them?

Having left Wilgar Park just before 1pm I was far too early for knocking on the doors at Blanchflower, so I thought I would head along Holywood Road and see what drinking establishments I could take residence in for a period of time. I have to say though, it didn’t look great, and as we got to twenty past one I was within a gnats chuff of the turnstiles and not an establishment was in sight, but then I had a vision.

To my left was a football ground, the home of Shorts FC, a club based around the aeroplane makers of the same name. But, they had a Social Club, and according to the signs it was an all day opening venue, so I decided to take a look, and yes, it was like finding an oasis in the Sahara, just when all hope was gone and all that!

Lager and Dry Roasted Peanuts later I was a happy lad, and wandering up to the turnstiles at Blanchflower Park, I have to say, what a superb job they have done in creating a ground that they tell me is fit for European football.

All of the fun and games is behind the North goal, they’ve built a large seated stand bedecked in yellow and black seats, with offices and dressing rooms underneath, but with a bar and hospitality area at the top. To the East is a steep but narrow bank of terracing on the half way line, while behind the South goal and on the West side of the ground are two seated stands of the variety that arrive on the back of a low-loader and need a crane to put them in place. It’s very good indeed, the club should be proud, it would grace the top flight should they ever make it, but it appears they want to be able to host European games for clubs who might qualify but don’t have the facilities themselves.

I went straight for the bar, and I’d not been sat down long when a club official came over to me, and quite out of the blue he immediately asked me if we’d met before. Now, that is quite possible, only he said he recognised me, so, maybe that day when Trevor did his best to introduce me to people, I left an impression.

A modest crowd rocked up for the game, the bulk of which were behind the goal, while visiting Newington who are a Belfast based club themselves, were largely without any kind of following. I don’t know an awful lot about Newington other than they joined the league a few years ago and shared at Crusaders, but I think they are now at Cliftonville, either way it’s North Belfast and the club are very much youth orientated.

To be brutally honest, as much as I was happy as a pig in the proverbial, high up in the stand with an al-fresco Carlsberg in hand, it wasn’t the greatest game you will ever see. A cracking first half goal from the visitors Michael Morgan, who curled in a shot from the edge of the box was the only strike of the encounter. The Welders battled hard throughout the game but lacked the cutting edge required to break down the resolute side in green.

So, the football for the weekend was over, it was now time to take a walk through East Belfast and find my accommodation on the Newtownards Road, which proved trickier than I thought but when you miss a vital turn that’s what happens! Anyhow, the rest of the night was mine, and as always on the Saturday night of a trip to North, it’s a time to reflect on the past couple of days, and of course, start to think about the next one.

This time around, I’m not planning on leaving it so long…..