Glentoran W

Early years

Glentoran was founded in 1882 by the workers of the Protestant-dominated Harland & Wolff shipyard, and draws much of its identity from its industrial roots in East Belfast. The shipyard’s cranes still overlook their ground - The Oval - symbolising the club’s heritage. In 1889, Glentoran FC was established as a limited company, and benefited from investments by local industrial leaders Viscount Pirrie and G.W. Wolff. This investment further tied the club to the nearby Harland and Wolff shipyard workers.

Glentoran made its first appearance in the Irish Cup during the 1886-87 season. They reached the semi-final of the competition, where they were beaten 2-1 by Ulster. The Irish League was established in 1890, with Glentoran being among the founding members, alongside Clarence, Cliftonville, Distillery, Linfield, Milford, Oldpark and Ulster. In the inaugural season, Glentoran finished in 5th place. In 1894, Glentoran won the first of its 23 league titles.

Vienna Cup

In 1914, Glentoran undertook their first European tour, with the key highlight being their participation and victory in the Vienna Cup. The tour began with a 4-3 loss to Deutsche in Prague, followed by a 4-1 win over Hertha Berlin. The team then traveled to Vienna for the Vienna Cup, a week-long tournament organised by the Vienna Football Club. In the first match against a Vienna select team, Glentoran dominated but conceded a late equalizer, resulting in a 1-1 draw. The final match was decisive, and Glentoran secured a convincing victory to win the Vienna Cup, making them both the first UK and the first Irish team to claim a European trophy.

1960s

In 1964–65, Glentoran faced Panathinaikos in the European Cup and drew 2–2 at home and lost 3–2 away. In the following season's Fairs Cup, they faced Antwerp resulting a 1–0 defeat away and 3–3 draw at home. The Cup-Winners' Cup in 1966–67 saw Glentoran draw 1–1 with Rangers in front of a packed Oval before losing the away leg 4–0.

Glentoran’s greatest moment in Europe came in a 1967 European Cup tie against Benfica. In the first leg at The Oval, Glentoran took an early lead with a penalty before football legend Eusébio equalized, ending the match 1–1. In the return leg at Benfica’s Estádio da Luz, part-time Glentoran defied expectations with a 0–0 draw. Although Benfica advanced on away goals, Glentoran became the first team eliminated by this rule and the first to prevent Benfica from scoring at home.

In 1967, Glentoran took the unusual step of running the Detroit Cougars football franchise in the United Soccer Association. The newly formed league had planned for an inaugural season in 1968, but when the rival National Professional Soccer League announced a start date of 1967 and a television contract with CBS, the league owners decided to fast track their league by importing entire squads from Europe and South America.

George Best watched Glentoran with his grandfather as a youth, but was rejected by the club for being "too small and light". However, Best did make one appearance for Glentoran, in the club's centenary match against Manchester United.

1970s

The club won the Irish league title in 1972 and 1977, coupled with an Irish Cup win in 1973. This cup win gave Glentoran a place the following season in the European Cup Winners Cup. In November 1973, Glentoran made history by becoming the first Irish club to reach the quarter-finals of the competition with a 3–1 victory over Brann in Belfast, following a 1–1 draw in Bergen. They faced Borussia Mönchengladbach in the quarter-finals and were beaten 2–0 and 5–0. Four seasons later they faced Juventus in a European Cup match and lost 1–0 at home and 5–0 away.

1980s

In 1981–82, Glentoran reached the second round of the European Cup and faced eventual semi-finalists CSKA Sofia. After a 2–0 defeat away, Glentoran went 2–0 up in the return leg to force the game into extra time. The final result was 2–1, Glentoran going out 3–2 on aggregate.

The 1985 Irish Cup final between Glentoran and Linfield featured a memorable incident: Glentoran fans brought a cockerel, their club emblem, and a pig painted in Linfield’s royal blue to the match, both of which stayed on the sidelines throughout. Fans repeated the cockerel tradition at the 2006 final, but Glentoran lost 2–1, ending their unbeaten post-war record of five consecutive Irish Cup final victories against Linfield, a streak that began in 1966.

1990s

In 1995 Glentoran played their traditional Boxing Day match against Linfield on a snow-covered pitch. In the first half the orange ball was damaged, and not having a replacement the teams were forced to play with a white ball for the remainder of the game. The incident was used as a "What Happened Next" question on the BBC's A Question of Sport.

Former Linfield manager Roy Coyle took charge of the club in 1997 and under his stewardship the club entered another period of success. In Coyle's first cup final in charge he gave up the right to lead the team out, instead he asked long serving Kitman Teddy Horner have this honour.

2000s

The 2002–03 season was successful for the club. Of the four trophies available in Northern Ireland, Glentoran won three, capturing the Irish League championship, Irish League Cup and County Antrim Shield but losing the Irish Cup Final 1–0 to Coleraine. The only Irish League to win all trophies is Linfield who have achieved this on 3 occasions. They won 7 trophies in 1921–22 and 7 in 1961–62 and also 4 trophies in 1955–56.

WOn 23 April 2005, Glentoran defeated their rivals Linfield in the second last game but one of the league season. In the 93rd minute of the match, Glentoran, who needed victory in order to have a chance of clinching the league title, scored a goal via their centre forward (and former Linfield player) Chris Morgan. There were confrontations between the two sets of fans following the match. Hooliganism was commonplace at matches between the clubs in the past.

Roy Coyle won 16 trophies with Glentoran and is the club's most successful manager in the club's history.