Club History
21 Jul 2009

The club was formed in 1978 when five people, Brendan McDonnell, John Connolly, John Morgan, Jim Gillen, and Martin Austin , pictured above, got together and formed a team with the sole intention of playing friendly games where ever they could get them as work commitments meant that a number of them couldn't play Saturday football.

They approached a local businessman and persuaded him to buy them their first kit, he agreed providing the name of his company would be on the shirts and they agreed. The name of the company was Ulster Sport & Leisure Club and as they hadn't yet settled on a name they decided to call the team Sport & Leisure. Although the business has long since gone the club has never considered a change of name.

(Though a number of years later they did add 'Swifts't to the name when Larry Murphy, Paul Kennedy and his brothers Hugh and John along with a number of others joined the club after the demise of Dunmurry League club Belfast Swifts. Both clubs had always enjoyed an excellent relationship so it seemed fitting.)

As circumstances changed and more players became available on Saturdays the club decided to enter their first Saturday league, the Co. Down Premier League, before moving on to the Lisburn League in the early eighties.

A friend of the club, Stephen Dumigan of Bangor Amateurs FC convinced them that they should try their luck in the Amateur League which of course was easier said than done for a Belfast club, particularly at that time as the scarcity of pitches wasn't helped by the Councils policy of not allocating pitches to teams but instead allocating them directly to the leagues and the Amateur Leagues criteria at the time was no pitch, no interview.

The club persevered with their Amateur League ambitions but in the meantime they joined what was then the Dunmurry League, all the while trying to secure a pitch somewhere.

Eventually in 1990 after six years of trying they were accepted into the Amateur League with a pitch at Allen Park Antrim playing there for one season before securing an agreement for the use of Larkfield School on Blacks Road where they were to spend ten years looked after brilliantly by caretaker Billy Smith and Headmaster Mr. Artt before opening their own ground at Glen Road Heights in October 2001.

The club moved into the Amateur Leagues Intermediate section in 2003 and when the IFA announced their plans to restructure the Irish League the club declared their interest in being included in the proposed new PIL section. This has seen them being accepted into the the IFA's Championship 2 for season 09/10.

While works is ongoing at their Glen Road ground it is unlikley to be finished before April 2010 and it's thanks to Larne FC's offer of a groundshare which has enabled them to compete in the Championship.

It goes without saying how grateful the club are to Larne for their generosity and the club have been made to feel most welcome at Inver Park.

Two other clubs who also deserve a mention are Knocbreda Parish and Banbrige Town, while neither club were in a position to offer groundshare both were extremely helpful and supportive as Leisure's search went on. It was much appreciated.

From their early days the club were always keen on friendly games, not just local friendlies but rather friendlies that broadened their horizons, and more importantly got them away for a few days.

Their biggest trip to date was in 1981 when they played four games in Canada, then followed with trips to Amsterdam, Manchester rand Tenerife among other places. They sometimes play only one game but they always play at least one.

Their most recent was in 2005 when they visited the North East of England to play Teesside Athletic, with the Redcar boys coming to Belfast the following year for a rematch.

TBC