A MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE.

Byline: MARTIN MAWHINNEY

SPORT and Leisure Swifts have been welcomed to the third tier of the Irish League with a warm embrace - but nothing will ever remove the fond memories they have of the time they spent in the Amateur League.

When the club's five founding members (Jim Gillen, Martin Austin, Brendan McDonnell, John Morgan, and John Connolly) first got the club up and running in 1978, it was surely beyond their wildest dreams that their first team would be playing in the upper echelons of local football, just over three decades later.

In fact, it took them 12 years to finally secure themselves a place in the Amateur League, having competed in the County Down Premier League, the Lisburn League, and the Dunmurry League before getting their own pitch at Allen Park in Antrim.

After a season, it was onto Larkfield School on the Blacks Road for the best part of a decade, before moving to their current home at Glen Road Heights.

"Never stand still," reflects club secretary John Morgan, who can certainly claim to have stayed true to his beliefs.

"You have to keep pushing on, and believing you will succeed in whatever you are doing."

This collective philosophy among the men who laid the foundations for this proud Belfast club was duly rewarded on Saturday in the most touching fashion, as their first ever opponents in the Championship Second Division, Portstewart, lined up and applauded them onto the pitch.

"They said they just wanted to welcome us to the Championship," said Morgan.

"It was a nice touch, and very much appreciated."

It was just the type of camaraderie the secretary had come to expect from his time in the Amateur League - one of the many qualities he believes the League has by the bucketload.

He went on: "There are some great characters in the Amateur League. Take the fixture secretary, Billy Furlonger - within five minutes of the end of our match (a 3-1 defeat) on Saturday, he rang up wishing us well, and saying that we should never have left the league!

"Then there is the quality of the football, and the general organisation of it. Our firsts got a referee every week - and you can't say that about every league."

Morgan believes that the club will, eventually, do well in their new league, once they get to grips with their surroundings on the pitch, and off it, with everything from certain administration issues to booking coaches for away matches all unfamiliar territory.

And while they are bedding in, as work continues to upgrade their facilities on the Glen Road - including the installation of a new 200-seater stand - Larne FC have kindly allowed them to share their Inver Park with them until the work reaches completion.

In the meantime, Morgan, manager Sean O'Rourke and all his colleagues at Sport and Leisure can enjoy the memories of their time in the Amateur League over the past two decades, safe in the reassuring knowledge that they bowed out on a high - with the capture of last season's Border Cup.

"That was definitely one of the three highlights of our time in the Amateur League. That, getting into intermediate football, and winning the 1B league title."

And we at Match on Tuesday are pretty sure there'll be more good times ahead for both Sport and Leisure and Knockbreda as they chase their dreams beyond the Amateur League. Good luck lads, and all the best for the future!

CAPTION(S):

HISTORY Sport & Leisure line out before their game against Portstewart