Sport
- Rugby
Ards Rugby Football Club plays at Lansdowne Road, south of the town along the main Comber road. The 1st XV currently plays in All-Ireland Division Three, making it the highest placed local team. Former players include Blair Mayne DSO, Phil Matthews and Nigel Carr, all former Ireland and British Lions players.
- Cricket
Ards Cricket Club currently plays in Section 3 of the NCU Senior League. Its home games take place at Londonderry Park, which is on the Portaferry Road.
- Football
There are two local football teams: Ards F.C., who play in the IFA Championship, and Ards Rangers F.C., who play in the Northern Amateur Football League. Ards F.C. was founded in 1902 and plays its home matches at Clandeboye park in Bangor, which it shares with Bangor F.C., following the sale of local ground Castlereagh Park. Ards Rangers F.C. plays its home matches at Drome Park which is directly beside the former Castlereagh Park.
- Motor sport
From 1928 to 1936, the RAC Tourist Trophy (TT) motor car races took place on a (closed) road circuit encompassing Newtownards, Comber and Dundonald in County Down, run in a clockwise direction. The pits were still visible up until the 1960s. Industrialist and pioneer of the modern agricultural tractor, Harry Ferguson, was instrumental in setting up the race, which was known as the Ards TT.
At the time it was Northern Ireland’s premier sporting event, regularly attracting crowds in excess of a quarter of a million people. Although it was a speed event, the entries were handicapped in order to allow cars of very different sizes and capabilities to race against each other on supposedly even terms over 30 laps (35 laps from 1933) of the 13.7 mile circuit. On September 5, 1936, in wet conditions, local driver Jack Chambers lost control of his Riley beneath the railway bridge coming into Newtownards, and crashed into the crowd killing eight spectators. This tragedy brought an end to nine years of racing over the Ards road circuit.
- Snooker and billiards
The town currently has two snooker and billiards clubs. St Pat's Snooker and Billiards Club and the Queens Hall both compete in the Bangor District Snooker and Billards League, while Big Break' a "Twilight Zone" franchise, competes in the Bangor and District Snooker League. A product of St Pat's Snooker and Billiards Club is ex-professional snooker player, Tommy Murphy.
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Famous quotes containing the word sport:
“If a walker is indeed an individualist there is nowhere he can’t go at dawn and not many places he can’t go at noon. But just as it demeans life to live alongside a great river you can no longer swim in or drink from, to be crowded into safer areas and hours takes much of the gloss off walking—one sport you shouldn’t have to reserve a time and a court for.”
—Edward Hoagland (b. 1932)
“For generations, a wide range of shooting in Northern Ireland has provided all sections of the population with a pastime which ... has occupied a great deal of leisure time. Unlike many other countries, the outstanding characteristic of the sport has been that it was not confined to any one class.”
—Northern Irish Tourist Board. quoted in New Statesman (London, Aug. 29, 1969)
“How long, then, Catiline, while you abuse our patience? How long is this madness of yours to make sport of us?”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)