2015–16 NIFL Championship

NIFL Championship
Season2015–16

The 2015–16 NIFL Championship (known as the Belfast Telegraph Championship for sponsorship reasons)[1] was the eighth and final season of the competition in this format since its establishment after a major overhaul of the league system in Northern Ireland, and the third season of the league as part of the Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL), which took over from the Irish Football Association (IFA) for the 2013–14 season onwards.[2] The season began on 8 August 2015, and concluded on 30 April 2016.

Changes from 2014–15

Competition changes

League restructure proposals to be introduced over a three-season period were approved by the NIFL on 25 June 2014. The second phase, coming into effect this season, amended the Championship rules:

  • Club development – a Club Development/Support programme will be developed and implemented to assist clubs to develop their club infrastructure and comply with licensing requirements.
  • Championship 2 – following the relegation of Ballymoney United to regional football the previous season, Championship 2 will reduce in size to 14 clubs this season, before reducing further to 12 clubs next season.
  • Promotion/relegation play-off – for the second consecutive season, the highest ranked club with a Championship licence, finishing in positions 2–6 in Championship 1 will participate in a promotion/relegation play-off for a place in the Premiership.
  • Promotion and relegation – the three lowest ranked clubs (12th, 13th, 14th) will be relegated from Championship 1 and there will be a play-off between the club finishing in 11th position in Championship 1 and the runners-up in Championship 2. There will be no play-off if the club in Championship 2 has not received a licence for senior football. The five lowest ranked clubs (10th to 14th) will also be relegated from Championship 2 to regional football. However, if there is no eligible regional champion for promotion, only four clubs will be relegated with the 10th-placed club reprieved.

Team changes

Carrick Rangers won the previous season's Championship 1 title, winning promotion back to the top flight for the first time since their relegation in the 2011–12 season.[3] In the bottom two, Dundela and PSNI were relegated to this season's Championship 2, while Lurgan Celtic and Annagh United went in the opposite direction after finishing first and second in Championship 2. For the second successive season, a club was relegated to regional football. Ballymoney United finished bottom of Championship 2 and were relegated to a regional division for the following season. As a result, Championship 2 reduced in size to 14 clubs.

Promoted from Championship 1 to the Premiership

Relegated from the Premiership to Championship 1

Promoted from Championship 2 to Championship 1

Relegated from Championship 1 to Championship 2

  • PSNI (13th in Championship 1)
  • Dundela (14th in Championship 1)

Relegated from Championship 2 to Level 4 Regional League

Championship 1

NIFL Championship 1
ChampionsArds
PromotedArds
RelegatedBangor (demoted)
Donegal Celtic
Lisburn Distillery
Matches played182
Goals scored632 (3.47 per match)
Biggest home winArmagh City 6–0 Lurgan Celtic
(7 November 2015)
Biggest away winLisburn Distillery 1–9 Armagh City
(2 April 2016)
Highest scoringLoughgall 3–7 Larne
(17 October 2015)
Lisburn Distillery 1–9 Armagh City
(2 April 2016)

Stadia and locations

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Location of teams in the 2015–16 NIFL Championship 1
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Location of the Belfast-based teams in the 2015–16 NIFL Championship 1
Club Stadium Location Capacity
Annagh United Tandragee Road Portadown 1,250 (100 seated)
Ards Clandeboye Park Bangor 2,850 (500 seated)
Armagh City Holm Park Armagh 3,000 (330 seated)
Ballyclare Comrades Dixon Park Ballyclare 1,800 (500 seated)
Bangor Clandeboye Park Bangor 2,850 (500 seated)
Dergview Darragh Park Castlederg 1,200 (100 seated)
Donegal Celtic Donegal Celtic Park Belfast 2,330 (650 seated)
Harland & Wolff Welders Tillysburn Park Belfast 3,000 (100 seated)
Institute Riverside Stadium Drumahoe 3,110 (1,540 seated)
Knockbreda Breda Park Knockbreda 1,000 (100 seated)
Larne Inver Park Larne 1,100 (656 seated)
Lisburn Distillery New Grosvenor Stadium Ballyskeagh 7,000 (540 seated)
Loughgall Lakeview Park Loughgall 3,000 (180 seated)
Lurgan Celtic Knockrammer Park Lurgan 1,000 (100 seated)

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation[a]
1 Ards (C, P) 26 17 3 6 59 35 +24 54 Promotion to the NIFL Premiership
2 Harland & Wolff Welders[b] 26 15 6 5 54 28 +26 51
3 Armagh City[b] 26 13 5 8 64 36 +28 44
4 Knockbreda[b] 26 12 7 7 48 32 +16 43
5 Institute 26 12 6 8 40 20 +20 42 Qualification for the promotion play-off[c]
6 Larne 26 12 6 8 64 45 +19 42
7 Lurgan Celtic 26 11 6 9 40 40 0 39
8 Ballyclare Comrades 26 9 10 7 44 40 +4 37
9 Loughgall 26 10 6 10 45 54 −9 36
10 Bangor (R) 26 10 5 11 44 40 +4 35 Demotion to the NIFL Premier Intermediate League[d]
11 Dergview 26 9 8 9 41 40 +1 35
12 Annagh United[e] 26 7 6 13 37 57 −20 27
13 Donegal Celtic (R) 26 2 4 20 34 80 −46 10 Relegation to the NIFL Premier Intermediate League
14 Lisburn Distillery (R) 26 2 4 20 18 85 −67 10
Source: Northern Ireland Football League, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Drawing of lots.[6]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Teams played each other twice (once at home and once away) for a total of 26 matches.
  2. ^ a b c Harland & Wolff Welders, Armagh City and Knockbreda did not apply for the Promotion Licence required for promotion to the Premiership. As a result, they were ineligible for the promotion play-off.
  3. ^ As the highest-ranked Championship 1 club outside the top two to successfully attain a Promotion Licence, Institute qualified for the promotion play-off against the 11th-placed Premiership club.
  4. ^ Bangor were demoted to the third tier as their application for the mandatory second tier Championship Licence was refused.[4] As a result, the highest-ranked Championship 2 club to successfully attain the licence (PSNI) was automatically promoted to replace Bangor in the second tier.
  5. ^ Limavady United (in Championship 2) applied for the mandatory second tier 'Championship Licence' but were refused. As a result, the 12th-placed Championship 1 club was reprieved from relegation.[5]

Results

Each team will play every other team twice (once at home, and once away) for a total of 26 games.

Home \ Away ANN ARD ARM BCC BGR DGV DGC H&W INS KNB LRN LIS LGL LGC
Annagh United 1–3 2–1 1–1 1–3 3–3 2–3 0–5 0–2 1–2 0–5 1–2 3–2 2–3
Ards 4–0 1–0 2–1 2–1 0–2 2–1 3–3 0–2 2–0 2–2 5–2 3–0 1–1
Armagh City 1–1 4–3 4–0 3–4 3–1 2–2 1–2 3–1 2–1 0–1 3–0 4–0 6–0
Ballyclare Comrades 2–2 0–2 2–1 3–1 1–1 3–1 3–3 1–0 1–3 3–2 4–1 1–1 1–3
Bangor 1–3 2–4 2–0 0–1 2–0 5–0 1–2 1–0 2–2 2–1 3–0 2–2 0–3
Dergview 4–4 1–0 0–1 0–4 1–2 2–2 1–1 0–0 1–0 3–0 1–1 2–4 3–1
Donegal Celtic 0–1 2–3 1–3 0–4 1–3 2–6 1–2 1–4 1–2 1–6 1–4 0–1 1–2
Harland & Wolff Welders 3–0 3–4 1–1 3–0 1–0 3–0 6–2 3–0 1–0 2–1 1–0 2–0 0–2
Institute 0–1 1–2 2–0 1–1 0–0 0–0 3–1 2–0 4–0 1–1 3–0 2–0 3–0
Knockbreda 3–3 2–0 1–3 2–2 1–0 3–0 3–3 1–0 1–0 3–0 2–2 2–2 0–0
Larne 2–0 1–6 4–4 0–0 1–1 3–2 5–0 2–1 1–3 0–3 6–1 2–2 1–0
Lisburn Distillery 0–3 0–3 1–9 1–1 2–2 0–3 0–3 0–3 0–4 0–3 0–7 1–5 0–4
Loughgall 1–0 2–0 3–3 3–2 4–3 0–2 3–1 2–2 1–0 0–7 3–7 3–0 0–1
Lurgan Celtic 1–2 1–2 0–2 2–2 2–1 0–2 3–3 1–1 2–2 2–1 2–3 2–0 2–1
Source: NI Football League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Championship 2

NIFL Championship 2
ChampionsLimavady United
PromotedPSNI
RelegatedCoagh United
Dollingstown
Glebe Rangers
Portstewart
Wakehurst
Matches played182
Goals scored575 (3.16 per match)
Biggest home winPSNI 7–0 Moyola Park
(30 April 2016)
Biggest away winBanbridge Town 0–6 Sport & Leisure Swifts
(5 September 2015)
Highest scoringQueen's University 4–5 Portstewart
(28 November 2015)

Stadia and locations

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Location of teams in the 2015–16 NIFL Championship 2
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Location of the Belfast-based teams in the 2015–16 NIFL Championship 2
Club Stadium Location Capacity
Banbridge Town Crystal Park Banbridge 1,500 (100 seated)
Coagh United Hagan Park Coagh 2,000 (179 seated)
Dollingstown Planters Park Lurgan 1,000 (100 seated)
Dundela Wilgar Park Belfast 2,500 (100 seated)
Glebe Rangers Riada Stadium Ballymoney 5,752 (218 seated)
Limavady United The Showgrounds Limavady 1,000 (174 seated)
Moyola Park Mill Meadow Castledawson 1,000 (200 seated)
Newington YC Seaview Belfast 3,383 (all seated)
Portstewart Seahaven Portstewart 1,000 (100 seated)
PSNI Newforge Lane Belfast 500 (112 seated)
Queen's University Dub Stadium Belfast 1,000 (100 seated)
Sport & Leisure Swifts Glen Road Heights Belfast 500 (215 seated)
Tobermore United Fortwilliam Park Tobermore 1,500 (100 seated)
Wakehurst Mill Meadow Castledawson 1,000 (200 seated)

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation[a]
1 Limavady United[b] (C) 26 18 5 3 66 27 +39 59
2 PSNI (P) 26 18 5 3 59 23 +36 59 Promotion to the NIFL Championship[c]
3 Sport & Leisure Swifts 26 13 8 5 59 28 +31 47
4 Tobermore United 26 13 5 8 38 31 +7 44
5 Moyola Park 26 12 5 9 40 34 +6 41
6 Banbridge Town 26 9 9 8 35 34 +1 36
7 Queen's University 26 10 6 10 35 37 −2 36
8 Dundela 26 11 3 12 38 47 −9 36
9 Newington YC 26 9 7 10 38 38 0 34
10 Dollingstown (R) 26 9 7 10 46 51 −5 34 Relegation to the tier 4 regional leagues
11 Glebe Rangers (R) 26 9 5 12 34 46 −12 32
12 Coagh United (R) 26 6 4 16 28 54 −26 22
13 Portstewart (R) 26 6 3 17 34 58 −24 21
14 Wakehurst (R) 26 1 4 21 25 67 −42 7
Updated to match(es) played on 30 April 2016. Source: Northern Ireland Football League, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Drawing of lots.[6]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Teams play each other twice (once at home and once away) for a total of 26 matches.
  2. ^ Limavady United were ineligible for promotion as their application for the mandatory second tier licence was refused.[5]
  3. ^ Bangor (in Championship 1) were demoted to the third tier as they failed to apply for the mandatory second tier 'Championship Licence'.[4] As a result, PSNI, the highest-ranked Championship 2 club to successfully attain the licence was automatically promoted to replace Bangor in the second tier.

Results

Each team will play every other team twice (once at home, and once away) for a total of 26 games.

Home \ Away BBT COA DOL DND GBE LIM MOY NTN PST PSNI QUE SLS TOB WAK
Banbridge Town 1–2 1–1 2–0 0–1 2–0 0–3 1–1 2–0 1–1 0–1 0–6 3–4 1–0
Coagh United 1–1 2–1 2–3 0–0 2–5 1–3 1–1 1–0 1–0 1–4 0–1 0–1 1–0
Dollingstown 1–5 3–1 4–0 2–2 0–1 1–0 3–3 3–0 1–2 1–2 2–2 0–0 4–2
Dundela 0–1 3–1 2–3 3–2 0–2 0–3 1–0 3–1 0–1 1–1 2–5 4–0 3–2
Glebe Rangers 1–0 3–2 3–4 3–1 0–4 1–3 1–1 1–3 1–2 1–0 0–4 2–1 2–1
Limavady United 2–2 4–1 3–1 2–0 1–1 1–0 4–0 3–1 4–2 1–1 2–2 2–0 5–1
Moyola Park 0–0 3–0 6–1 0–0 1–0 0–4 0–3 2–0 0–1 1–1 1–1 2–2 4–1
Newington YC 0–0 3–1 5–2 0–1 4–1 0–4 2–0 2–0 1–1 0–1 1–2 2–3 1–0
Portstewart 1–3 0–2 2–2 1–3 3–1 2–3 3–0 3–4 0–3 2–1 1–1 2–5 2–2
PSNI 3–3 3–0 3–1 3–2 1–0 3–0 7–0 3–0 5–0 4–0 4–2 2–0 2–0
Queen's University 1–1 3–2 0–2 0–0 0–3 0–2 3–2 1–0 4–5 4–0 1–2 0–2 3–1
Sport & Leisure Swifts 0–2 4–0 1–1 1–3 3–1 4–1 1–2 1–1 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–2 7–1
Tobermore United 3–1 2–1 2–0 5–0 0–1 1–1 0–1 2–1 1–0 1–1 1–0 0–4 0–1
Wakehurst 1–2 2–2 1–2 2–3 2–2 1–5 0–3 1–2 0–2 1–2 2–3 0–4 0–0
Updated to match(es) played on 30 April 2016. Source: NI Football League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

References

  1. ^ BELFAST TELEGRAPH SPONSOR THE IFA CHAMPIONSHIP Archived April 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "NORTHERN IRELAND FOOTBALL LEAGUE". NIFL Premiership.
  3. ^ "Carrick Rangers are promoted to Irish Premiership". BBC Sport. BBC. 25 April 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Bangor are facing third tier demotion over a lack of licence". Belfast Telegraph. 15 April 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  5. ^ a b "FOOTBALL: Limavady United can't win promotion - licence 'rejected'". Londonderry Sentinel. 5 April 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  6. ^ a b "NIFL Regulations and Club Information – Season 2015/16" (PDF). Northern Ireland Football League. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 January 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2016.