Cliftonville Football & Athletic Club is a Northern Irish, semi-professional association football club playing in the NIFL Premiership – the top division of the Irish League. The club was founded in September 1879 by John McAlery in the suburb of Cliftonville in north Belfast. It is the oldest football club in Ireland and celebrated its 140th anniversary in 2019. Since 1890, the club has played home matches at Solitude. Cliftonville contests the North Belfast derby with nearby rivals Crusaders, and also has local rivalries with Linfield and Glentoran. The club has won the Irish League Premiership five times outright including one shared title, the Irish Cup eight times and the Irish League Cup six times. History Founders of football in Ireland The foundation of Cliftonville F.C. was announced on 20 September 1879 in notices in the Belfast News-Letter and Northern Whig, which asked "gentlemen desirous of becoming members" of the "Cliftonville Association Football Club (Scottish Association Rules)" to communicate with John McAlery, a young Belfast businessman and manager of the "Irish Tweed House", Royal Avenue, and later with premises in Rosemary Street, or R.M. Kennedy, and advertising an "opening practice today at 3.30". Only one week after the advertisement was published, Cliftonville played its first recorded game at Cliftonville Cricket Ground against a selection of rugby players known as Quidnunces, the game took place on 29 September 1879. The newly formed club, however, was beaten 2–1. In its first match against the Scottish club Caledonian, it fared worse: a 1–9 defeat. In 1880, it was again John McAlery who was the moving spirit in the formation of the Irish Football Association. He issued an invitation to interested parties in Belfast and district for a meeting to be called. The first meeting took place on 18 November 1880 at Queen's Hotel, Belfast, presided over by John Sinclair, from which the Irish Football Association was formed. While Major Chichester was appointed president, McAlery became the honorary secretary of the association. This meeting also paved the way for the Irish Cup. Early years The first Irish Cup final, played at Cliftonville on 9 April 1881, saw a 1–0 defeat against Moyola Park, an opponent that was well known for "rough and brutal play". In the following year Cliftonville lost again in the Irish Cup final, 1–0 against Queen's Island. In 1883 Cliftonville won the cup for the first time with a 5–0 win