Back in the picture

As part of his his ongoing project to bolster the Club’s archives, Cliftonville’s Heritage Development Officer, Paul Treanor, extends thanks to Peter Sammut for some recent assistance.

A familiar face at Solitude for many decades, Peter recently bought and generously donated three original team photos – two of which Paul had never seen before.

The first image is from the 1908/09 season when the Reds won both the Irish Cup and Charity Cup. While this picture has been unearthed in many forms over the years, this is the first time that contemporary Club custodians have taken receipt of such a high quality print, celebrating the players who defeated Bohemians 2-1 in an Irish Cup Final replay and overcame Linfield 3-1 to lift the Charity Cup.

Dating back to the previous campaign, the next picture features the Cliftonville Strollers team with the Coolmore Cup which, after a bit of detective work, Paul has discovered was presented to the runners-up in the Junior League of the Irish Football Alliance, which was that year won by Ulster Rangers.

The final image shows the Reds’ 1922/23 squad posing with both two trophies.

Having won the Gold Cup, which was contested in a League format, undefeated, Cliftonville also overcame Linfield 2-0 to win the Alhambra Cup – a trophy which, to all intents and purposes, we remain the holders of due to the competition never being played again. Unfortunately, however, the silverware’s whereabouts remains unknown… and that really would be quite the turn up for our books!

Paul remains grateful to everyone who has helped grow the Club’s Official archive in recent years and if you, or someone you know, has any Cliftonville related items – photos, reports, records, minute books, ledgers, scrapbooks or, indeed, the Alhambra Cup – he would be delighted to hear from you.

While donations are very acceptable, he is just as happy to receive items on loan to be digitally recorded and returned.