Donegall Road - Sport and Culture

Sport and Culture

Windsor Park, the home of both Linfield F.C. and the Northern Ireland national football team is accessible from Donegall Avenue, a street that leads off the Donegall Road. As a consequence both the club and national team are well supported within the road's community and are celebrated by murals in the Village area. The Donegall Road also features in a popular chant that Linfield supporters often sing. A supporters club for Scottish Premier League club Rangers F.C. is located at Barrington Street adjacent to the Donegall Road. As stated, Belfast Celtic previously made their home on the Donegall Road. However the club left the Irish Football League in 1949 after a series of sectarian incidents at matches, notably at Windsor Park. Their stadium remained as a venue for greyhound racing until it was demolished in the 1980s.

Snooker player Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins also grew up on the road, having been born on Abingdon Drive. He was a regular visitor to the local snooker hall, the Jampot Club, before he went on to win the World Snooker Championship for the first time in 1972. Higgins is commemorated by a piece of public art on the road.

Popular singer Ruby Murray was born on Donegall Road. Like Higgins, Murray's ties to the area have been commemorated artistically, in this case by a photographic montage on the side of the Road's Credit Union.

The Donegall Road Carnegie library opened on 5 March 1909, one of three Carnegie libraries in Belfast. Sold by the council in the early 1990s, it was restored and converted into offices in 1999.