Institute F.C.
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| Full name | Institute Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Stute |
| Founded | 1905 |
| Ground | Riverside Stadium |
| Capacity | 3,110 (1,540 seated) |
| Chairman | Bill Anderson |
| Manager | Kevin Deery |
| League | NIFL Championship |
| 2015–16 | 5th |
| Website | Club home page |
Institute Football Club is a Northern Irish semi-professional association football club playing in the NIFL Championship. The club, founded in 1905, are based in the Drumahoe area of Derry and play their home matches at the Riverside Stadium in the YMCA Grounds. Club colours are sky blue and white. They are currently managed by Kevin Deery after former boss Paul Kee was relieved of his duties in April 2015.
The Presbyterian Working Men's Institute founded in 1882 was associated with football from October 1905, when a number of players and supporters of North End Olympic F.C., which had folded, conceived the idea of creating a new football team. A meeting was accordingly held in the rooms, of the Diamond Hotel, with the late Mr. William Buchanan, acting as chairman. It was thereupon decided to form a Junior football club known as Institute F.C. affiliated with the North-End Football Association and to play only friendly matches during the 1905–06 season.
The club played their first ever match (a friendly) against St Columbs Court at Magee College grounds (which the club used as their home pitch for that season), winning the match 2–1. Those who played in this match were: J.Parkhill, D.Patton, Wm. Neely, R.A.Bogle, W. M. Wilton, D.Gillespie, J.Holland, D.McCleery, D.Gilfillan, G. Young, and A. Doherty. Institute arranged many other friendlies during that season and continued to grow in strength.
In the 1906–07 season the club entered the North-West Junior League. Their first ever junior match was a league match away to Farm Wanderers which ended in a 4–4 draw. In the season of 1907–08, Billy Gillespie began playing for the club, and went on to become one of the club's greatest ever players. The club won the North-West Charity Cup that season, beating Derry Celtic Wanderers 4–1 in the final, making them the first Junior team ever to win the trophy. Mr William Logue became chairman of the club and remained chairman until the year 1914.
In the 1910–11 season, although the team lost Billy Gillespie to Leeds City, they managed to reach the semi-final of the Irish Junior Cup, in which they were defeated 2–1 by Broadway United at the Brandywell. The 1911–12 season saw the club reach the final of the Irish Junior Cup, narrowly losing out on winning the trophy after a 2–1 defeat by Brantwood at Grosvenor Park, Belfast.
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