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| Full name | Tobermore United Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | "The Reds" | ||
| Founded | 1965 | ||
| Ground | Fortwilliam Park,Tobermore | ||
| Capacity | approx. 1,500[1] | ||
| Coordinates | 54°49′02″N6°42′04″W / 54.8173°N 6.7012°W /54.8173; -6.7012 | ||
| League | Ballymena & Provincial Football League (Premier Division) | ||
| 2024–25 | NIFL Premier Intermediate League, 14th of 14 (relegated) | ||
Tobermore United Football Club is an intermediate,Northern Irishfootball club playing in the Premier Division of theBallymena & Provincial League.
The club, founded in 1965, is based inTobermore, nearMagherafelt,County Londonderry. The club's main colours are red and black.[2]
Tobermore United is the only football club in Northern Ireland thatGeorge Best ever played competitively for. However, it was only for one match, on 11 February 1984, after many years of his decline, and Tobermore lost 7–0 toBallymena United.[3][4]
The club has a youth development scheme and it was awarded official Football Development Centre (FDC) status by the IFA. It has teams at under-11, under-12, under-14 and under-16 level.[citation needed]
In the 2010/11 season, the club gained promotion toIFA Championship 1 by finishing 2nd inIFA Championship 2, but were relegated again two-years later.[2]
In the 2016/17 season, the IFA Championship 2 was changed to theNIFL Premier Intermediate League. In its inaugural season, Tobermore finished 5th.
In the 2018/19 season, Tobermore finished in 3rd place in the Premier Intermediate League.
Following the curtailed 2019–20 Premier Intermediate League season, Tobermore finished 11th and technically bottom of the league however weren't relegated due to no appropriate promotion candidates, and given the league had already lostLurgan Celtic who had withdrawn.
Due toCOVID-19, the 2020/21 season wasn't played, and the Premier Intermediate League began again in the 2021/22 season. Tobermore finished bottom once again, but were not relegated as there were 11 teams in the league when there were meant to be 12 (Ballymacash Rangers F.C. were promoted to the Premier Intermediate League and nobody was relegated to allow a 12-team league for the following season).
In the 2022/23 season, Tobermore finished 6th in theNIFL Premier Intermediate League, making it into the top section of the split but finishing bottom of it.
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The club plays its home matches at Fortwilliam Park outside Tobermore village.[1][2] It has capacity for approximately 1,500 spectators.[1] In 1984, it hosted a crowd of approximately 4,000 whenGeorge Best played his only competitive club match in Northern Ireland.[3] The match, anIrish Cup tie between Tobermore United andBallymena United, ended 0–7 to Ballymena.[4]
Cars lined the road to Maghera outside Fortwilliam Park in Tobermore as hundreds of supporters finally got the chance to see soccer legend George Best turnout for the local side back in 1984 [..] few in the 4,000 strong attendance were too concerned as they concentrated attention on the real crowd-puller of the day, George Best
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