Celtic Park was a multi-use

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, Northern Ireland. It was used for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

matches and was the home of Belfast Celtic F.C. Throughout the majority of its existence it was a

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

track. The stadium was able to hold 50,000 spectators at its height, with 5,000 of those spectators seated.

Football

The stadium ceased to host Belfast Celtic matches when the team stopped playing competitive matches in 1949. Like

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, it was known as "Paradise" by its fans. The football team ran into financial issues and finally dissolved in 1960 but the stadium was then firmly established as a greyhound stadium.

Greyhound Racing

Origins

Two Belfast bookmakers called Joe Shaw and Hugh McAlinden visited to

Belle Vue Stadium Belle Vue Stadium was a greyhound racing track in Belle Vue, Manchester, England, where the first race around an oval track in Britain was held on 24 July 1926. It has also been used for motorcycle speedway, as the home ground of Elite League t ...

in 1926 to view the new form of greyhound racing around an oval. They duly formed the National Racing Greyhound Company with the assistance of Paddy O’Donoghue and James Clarke. It was the first greyhound track to open in Ireland on Easter Monday 18 April 1927, and one of the first in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The company would take control of Ireland's second track

Shelbourne Park Shelbourne Park is a greyhound racing stadium in the south Dublin inner city suburb of Ringsend. Greyhound Racing Opening The plans to open a greyhound track in Dublin were drawn up by Paddy O’Donoghue, Jerry Collins, Patsy McAlinden and Jim ...

in 1927. McAlinden was the chairman of Belfast Celtic and he instigated the lease of the stadium for the racing which would be governed by the Irish Coursing Club, the official regulatory body of greyhound racing in Ireland. On opening night racing consisted of two hurdles races in the six race card and one race ended with a dead heat between Keep Whistling and Imperial Jimmy.

Early history

The first ever winner (not only at Celtic Park but in Ireland) was a greyhound called Mutual Friend (Three Speed x Lazy Peggy) on the Easter Monday; the April 1923 whelp was owned by Jim Tuite of Railway House, Oldcastle, County Meath. Duneynie Castle claimed the Belfast Telegraph Cup competition in the summer of 1927 and re-opening for a second season in March 1928 patrons were able to purchase a complete form guide of the previous season from all Irish Coursing Club tracks for one shilling. Two months later on 11 May Mick the Miller finished third in the Abercorn Cup final at the track over 526 yards. A major event introduced in 1926 was the Trigo Cup; William Barnett presented a cup to Celtic Park after his horse Trigo won The Derby and

St Leger Stakes The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a d ...

. The Trigo Cup would gain classic status some years later in 1944 and second major competition called the McAlevey Gold Cup was inaugurated in 1938. In 1932 and 1943 the track hosted the

Irish St Leger The Irish St Leger is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile and 6 furlongs (2,816 metres), and it i ...

one of Ireland's premier races and in July 1946, the first case of a greyhound traveling by air took place.

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

greyhound Clady Border trained by Ken Newham went from Manchester airport to Belfast to take part in an event at Celtic Park in which he won. The first Racing Manager at the Track was Jim Rice and after his passing he was honoured by the track hosting the Jim Rice Memorial Trophy. Another competition called the Ulster Sprint Cup was a regular event from 1930 and the Trigo Cup was also known as the Ulster Derby for many years.

Later history

In 1955,

Spanish Battleship Spanish Battleship (August 1951 - July 1962) was a male fawn and brindle greyhound. He is celebrated as one of Ireland's greatest racing greyhounds. Early life Spanish Battleship was whelped in August 1951 as part of a litter of seven. His owne ...

appeared at the track for his final race in Ireland. The track suffering from a lack of investment and hampered by

the troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

in Northern Ireland began to go downhill. However, in 1978 a new board of directors took over, Sean and Brian Graham and Jim Delargy closed the track to allow for refurbishment and Eddie O'Hagan the Racing Manager retired. The changes included an all-sand track from grass. The track finally opened two years later during April 1980.

Closure

Brookmount Properties bought the site for redevelopment and the last meeting was held on 31 October 1983. The site of Celtic Park is now occupied by a

shopping centre A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

Competitions

* Trigo Cup/Ulster Derby * McAlevey Gold Cup *

Notable track records

References

External links

Stadium informationHistory of Dog Racing in Ireland
{{Greyhound stadiums in Ireland Association football venues in Northern Ireland Athletics (track and field) venues in Northern Ireland Defunct association football venues in Northern Ireland Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Sports venues in Belfast Multi-purpose stadiums in the United Kingdom Defunct sports venues in Northern Ireland Ireland national football team (1882–1950) Sports venues completed in 1901 Belfast Celtic F.C. 1901 establishments in Ireland 1983 disestablishments in Northern Ireland Greyhound racing in Ireland