Our Community, Our Club

Katie Taylor and Carl Frampton are featured on the large mural at Antrim Boxing Club (Fb), painted by Visual Waste (ig) with support from the Housing Executive (Press Release), Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, and the executive’s T:BUC programme (see previously Belfast Melt).

Below are the small murals on the other walls, of the club’s logo, including the Round Tower (DfC), and of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (web).

For another Taylor mural, see School Of Champions. Frampton appears in half-a-dozen other murals, most prominently in The Jackal.

Durnish Road, Antrim.

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Wall Of Champions

“You earn your trophies at practice – you just pick them up at competitions.” The largest number among the honours on the left is 56, for the number of times Linfield has won the league.

“Monkstown true blues Linfield supporters club,” (Fb) “Follow your dreams – if you can dream it, you can become it.”

Cloyne Crescent, Monkstown, Newtownabbey.

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We Welcome The Chase

“Let others come after us – we welcome the chase.” The exterior wall of the Carrickfergus Rangers Supporters Club presents a gallery of the club’s managers from 1899 to 2018. In order they are William Wilton, Bill Struth, Scot Symon, David White, William Waddell, Jock Wallace, John Greig, Graeme Souness, Walter Smith, Dick Advocaat, Alex McLeish, Paul Le Guen, Ally McCoist, Stuart McCall, Mark Warburton, Pedro Caixinha, Graeme Murty, Steve Gerrard (and since then, there have been Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Michael Beale, and (currently) Philippe Clement).

Also from the Club: Club: commemorative murals to the 36th Division in A Name That Equals Any In History | to the UDR in Some Gave All | to the Highland Fusiliers.

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Like A Pack Of Cards

“Carrickfergus congratulates Rangers FC on their 55th title” on “Champions Row” (that is, Irish Quarter West) Carrickfergus.

As Chairman Dave King appointed Steven Gerrard as the new manager of Rangers in 2018, he predicted that a single league win for Rangers would cause Celtic to “fold like a pack of cards” (Sky Sport). Under Gerrard, Rangers clinched their 55th Scottish championship in spring of 2021. Celtic, however, won in 2022 and 2023 (WP).

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With Voice, Pen, Or Hand

“With voice, pen or hand we will defend our land.” David (Davy) Patterson (12-10-1955 – 03-01-2019) was a member of the 1st East Belfast Rangers Supporters Club (Fb) and Albertbridge Glentoran Supporters Club (Funeral Times). This memorial board is the side-wall to the Somme Society mural (see Their Name Liveth Forevermore) and the Red Hand Commando memorial garden in Hunt Street, east Belfast.

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Gort Na Móna

These two boards are at Gort Na Móna CLG. The one above was put developed by young Gorts as they learned about the history of the club as part of a twentieth anniversary celebration of Terry Óg Enright (Fb) who was killed by the LVF in 1998. The second board, below, combines the two previous boards to Terry Óg, seen previously in No Such Thing As Failure and Páırc Mhıc Ionnrachtaıgh.

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Lóıste Na Móna

“Welcome to Turf Lodge” — “Fáılte go dtí Lóıste Na Móna”. Turf Lodge was one of a number of estates built in the foothills of Black Mountain — including Westrock, Springhill, Ballymurphy, New Barnsley, and Dermot Hill — meant to house an underserved Catholic population and displaced families from other areas of Belfast.

The estate was built over a number of years but most people moved in between 1960 and 1962. (Northern Visions made a documentary about the history and people of the Turf Lodge estate that includes descriptions of the various ways in which the estate was left unfinished even as people took up residence.)

For the sixtieth anniversary, the electrical boxes outside John Paul II (formerly St Aidan’s) were stencilled (above and immediately below). This year (2023), more boxes have been painted, with images of gaelic games (see Gort Na Móna), bluebells (see Féıle Na gCloıgíní Gorma), and the silver fáınne on red background (see #AchtAnoıs).

See also: Klaus Fröhlich has a gallery of photos of the flats in the middle of the estate in great disrepair in 1979 (at BAP).

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Ruaırí Óg CLG

This is the second version of the Ruaırí Óg (web) (and Clann Lır) mural in the middle of Cushendall – the original dates back to 2006, which was the 100th anniversary of the club’s founding (“bunaıthe”) (see M02832). The hurlers and Curfew tower remain; the “Big Ears” (Volunteer) trophy is gone and in its place are three traditional musicians. The Clann Lır has been painted to include the harper seen in Jim Fitzpatrick’s painting of the Lear myth. A Celtic warrior has appeared on the bridge over the Dall.

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