Francis "Francie" Bellew (born 25 March 1976) is a

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

er who played for the Armagh county team. He has won an

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...

medal, five Ulster Championships and a

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

title with the county. He was also awarded an All Star for his performances in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

. Bellew plays club football for

Crossmaglen Rangers Crossmaglen Rangers Gaelic Athletic Club ( ga, Raonaithe na Croise) is a GAA club in Crossmaglen, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. They cater for Gaelic football and camogie. Their home football ground is St. Oliver Plunkett Park, which was ...

and has won four

All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament which began in season 1970–71. It is the top-tier competition for the senior football clubs of Ireland and London. The current champions are Kilcoo of ...

s, seven

Ulster Senior Club Football Championship The Ulster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition played between the top clubs in Ulster GAA. The trophy awarded to the winners is the Seamus McFerran Cup ( ga, Corn Shéamuis Mhic Fearáin). The winners and th ...

s and 13

Armagh Senior Football Championship The Armagh Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by top-tier Armagh GAA clubs. The Armagh County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1889. Clann Éireann are the title hold ...

s with the club. Bellew usually plays as full back for both club and county. He is known as a hard-hitting and tough old-fashioned full back and these attributes along with his quiet demeanor and reluctance to talk to the media has resulted in him having a cult following among Armagh and Crossmaglen fans. He features in 24 reasons "Why GAA is better than soccer" under #6:

John Terry John George Terry (born 7 December 1980) is an English professional football coach and former player who played as a centre-back. He was previously captain of Chelsea, the England national team and Aston Villa. He was most recently the assi ...

would run a mile if he came up against Francie Bellew.

Playing career

Inter-county

Bellew made his Senior inter-county debut for Armagh against

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia **Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

in early 2002, and subsequently made his Championship debut against Tyrone later that year. That year he helped Armagh win the

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in early May. The final is usu ...

as well as the county's first ever

. In

Armagh once again reached the All-Ireland final, but were defeated by neighbours Tyrone. He received an All Star award for his performances that year. 2004 saw Bellew and Armagh again win the Ulster Championship. In 2005 Bellew helped Armagh win the National League, beating

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 N ...

in the final. Later that year he helped Armagh win another Ulster Championship. Armagh completed a three-in-a-row of Ulster Championships in 2006. Bellew won another Ulster Championship medal with Armagh in 2008, his fifth in all. Bellew retired from inter-county football in April 2009.

Club

Bellew is part of the Crossmaglen team that has won 13

s in a row between 1996 and 2008. This equals the national record for consecutive county football championships set by Ballina Stephenites of

Mayo Mayo often refers to: * Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo" * Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States Mayo may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land Australia * Division of Mayo, an Aust ...

between 1904 and 1916. He has also won the

eight times (1996, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010 and the

five times (1997, 1999, 2000, 2007 and 2011) with the club. Bellew, along with

Paul Hearty Paul Hearty is an Irish Gaelic footballer who played as goalkeeper for the Armagh county team. He was named in goal for the 2006 ''Irish News'' Ulster Allstars team for his performances in Armagh's 2006 Uster championship win. Club Hearty wa ...

, John McEntee, Tony McEntee,

Oisín McConville Oisín McConville ( ga, Oisín Mac Conmhaoil; born 13 October 1975) is an Irish Gaelic football manager and former player. He has been manager of the Wicklow county team since 2022. McCoville played at senior level for the Armagh county team ...

is one of six Cross players to have shared in all these successes since 1996.

References

External links

Official Armagh GAA websiteCrossmaglen Rangers website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellew, Francis 1976 births Living people Armagh inter-county Gaelic footballers Crossmaglen Rangers Gaelic footballers Gaelic football backs Winners of one All-Ireland medal (Gaelic football)