Background

Over the course of its 130-year history, Glentoran Football Club has been proudly represented by thousands of players, some making only fleeting appearances as a footnote in the history books, some with Glentoran careers that were short-lived but hugely impactful and others through loyalty, skill and dedication left an imprint on the record books across many seasons that is still is valued today.

It’s the value that the club places upon the service given by these former players to Glentoran that instigated the thought process behind the creation of the 250 Club. Often, and possibly with some justification, ex-players, particularly those who made many appearances, had felt slightly aggrieved that to all intents and purposes they had been ignored by the club they so proudly served. This is an oversight that the club now intended to rectify.

It was Glentoran FC’s desire to form the ‘250 Club’ of ex-players who, as the name suggests, have made over two hundred and fifty appearances for the club. Membership entitles the holder to free entry to any of our home games and access to the player’s lounge/directors box.

Glentoran would in return seek the 250 Club members help. We would hope that they would act as a club ambassador at certain events – pre and post match corporate hospitality, supporter’s club events, school visits and other club sponsor events.

How it came about

When appointed as a Glentoran Director, Stephen Henderson, had set himself a manifesto of things that he would  like to pursue and “put in place” when elected to the board. One of those items on his agenda would be some way of recognising the effort of our former players over the years , many of whom he noticed were regularly paying into Glentoran matches , which to Stephen and other like minded fans did not seem right. Surely the club could offer them some sort of gesture to show the clubs appreciation for their services? From this moment the 250 Club was born. Stephen raised the matter at board level and received tremendous support from his fellow board members who sanctioned the idea.

To decide who receive a pass for Glentoran matches, it was decided to set a bench mark of 250 appearances, that way it should give a fair cut-off point as to who would or would not be entitled to a pass.

Thanks to the excellent work of Roy France in his book Glentoran – A complete record, Stephen along with Philip Stevenson, who looks after the Glentoran Legends side and would be the clubs liaison officer on this project, were able to compile a list of 40 players, past and present who met the 250 appearance criteria.

From that list it was noticed that some of those names were already Life Members of the club, such as Sammy Hughes, Sammy Lowry, Jim Weatherup and Walter Bruce whilst another five were current players i.e. Colin Nixon, Paul Leeman, Michael Halliday (now Crusaders), Sean Ward and Elliott Morris. As current players it was felt that they would only receive their membership of the 250 club as and when they leave Glentoran or retire from the game.

A special personalised membership card was designed by Clifford Logan, designer of the award winning Glentoran Gazette and presented to the exclusive 250 club members at a special function in January 2010.