From Ardara Emeralds to Ardara FC: soccer in Ardara, County Donegal, 1891-1995

Historical case studies of individual grassroots soccer clubs in rural Ireland have been scarce. This article illustrates the failure of one town in Donegal to sustain a club in the face of challenge from Gaelic football. A soccer club had been established in Ardara in 1891 but was in decline by the 1920s as Gaelic football grew in strength there. In the 1980s a new club, Ardara FC, was organized by a local man with the passion, means and drive to put the town back on the Donegal soccer map. The factors which contributed to Ardara FC becoming one of Donegal's top junior soccer clubs by the early 1990s will be examined. It also looks at the club's player recruitment policy and illustrates how the signing of players from outside the parish was fundamental to their success, while also examining the reactions of more traditional soccer clubs and the Donegal League Committee to this.