Ballymacash Rangers F.C.

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Full name	Ballymacash Rangers Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Cash
Founded	1984
Ground	Bluebell Stadium Lisburn, Co. Antrim[1][failed verification]
Manager	Lee Forsythe
League	Mid-Ulster Football League Intermediate A
Home colours

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.

History[]

Ballymacash Rangers won the top tier (Intermediate A) of the Mid-Ulster Football League in the 2003/04 season.^{[citation needed]} 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^{[citation needed]} which was followed up by winning the Mid-Ulster Football League Alan Wilson Cup to make it a double winning season.^{[citation needed]}

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

In 2019, the club announced their aspirations to gain promotion to the Northern Ireland Football League^{[citation needed]} alongside plans to complete a million pound renovation of The Bluebell,^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} This was a community funded project which is the first model of its kind in Northern Ireland.^{[citation needed]} The model used was similar to that of FC United of Manchester.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

Manager[]

Michael Gault was appointed manager in June 2019.^{[citation needed]} 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^{[clarification needed]} Lee Forsythe as new manager.^{[citation needed]}

Honours[]

Intermediate

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

• Mid-Ulster Football League Intermediate A : 1
  • 2003–04
• Mid-Ulster Football League Intermediate B : 2
  • 1997-98
  • 2012-13
• Mid-Ulster Football League Alan Wilson Cup : 2
  • 1997-98
  • 2012-13

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^{[citation needed]}
• Rory Patterson joined Ballymacash Rangers in September 2019 following his release from Crusaders. Rory has received five full international caps for Northern Ireland^{[citation needed]}

Northern Ireland U21 Internationals

• David Armstrong (footballer, born 1987) joined Ballymacash Rangers in July 2019. David previously played for Heart of Midlothian, Linfield and Dungannon Swifts. He has received one cap for the Northern Ireland U21 side^{[citation needed]}

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*
• 2020/21 - SEASON NULL & VOID**
• 2021/22 - TBC

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

**2020/21 season was declared null and void due to COVID-19 lockdowns meaning the league was unplayable**

References[]