Iconic Football Stadiums: The Oval, Glentoran

If you arrive in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Airport, your first impressions will include the country’s football heritage. The airport is named after its greatest ever footballer, George Best, and, as you drive into the city, on your left, you’ll pass the green hulk of The Oval, home of Glentoran and one of the truly great world stadiums for groundhoppers.

According to a 2019 survey, The Oval is second only to Boca Juniors’ La Bombonera stadium as the one groundhoppers want to visit most and the top destination in Europe. There are many reasons that The Oval is appealing to groundhoppers from abroad – it’s a time capsule that’s maintained its 1950s aesthetic, inside and out; it has stunning views from all angles; and it can boast an incredible history.

A Brief History of The Oval

The Oval is the home of Glentoran Football Club, founded on 27 September 1882 from the merger of two clubs. Rather uniquely, it is named after the stately home of the owner, Victor Coates, who bought both clubs together. The club’s second home was named ‘The Oval’ due to its shape and Glentoran drew on support from across East Belfast’s sizeable dock working community. 

Each day, thousands of men would cross the bridge near The Oval to work in shipyards like Harland & Wolff, where the RMS Titanic was built. “She was fine when she left Belfast,” is a local saying. Glentoran’s proximity to the Belfast shipyards was both a blessing and curse because when World War II broke out, the area became a target for German bombers, and the Luftwaffe marked The Oval out as a prime target, having mistakenly believed it to be an oil dump. 

The Oval was hit three times in 1941 and filled with floodwater from a nearby river. The club had to ground share at Distillery’s stadium until The Oval was rebuilt in the early 1950s, and it hasn’t changed much since then.

The Oval today

To enter The Oval is to step back in time. The interiors reminded me of a private school from the fifties, with wooden bench changing rooms and boards with the names of past successes. The boardroom has gentleman’s club vibes and is stuffed with mementoes of the club’s past. Ajax gifted a cuckoo clock. Benfica provided a silver eagle. Other clubs have supplied trinkets and pendants. When I visited (September 2023) while researching my third book, Shades of Green: A Journey into Irish Football, the famous 1914 Vienna Cup – a kind of early version of the European Cup Winners’ Cup – was not there; it was on loan to the FIFA Museum, but it would usually be here in the boardroom. The trophy survived the Blitz because it was at the chairman’s house for safekeeping.

Outside, both ends behind the goals are a curved terrace of concrete open to the often-harsh elements. The crush barriers painted in the club colours, green, black and red. Behind one is a grassy bank with a pillar box that survived the bombing of the former Oval. 

The main stand, where the boardroom and changing rooms are, doesn’t quite cover the entire length, it’s wonderfully offset, while opposite, another covered stand offers shelter from the elements. In the metal rafters, you can see razor wire placed here to prevent fans from both sides from climbing up and pelting their rivals. The turnstiles near the main entrance were used to stand in for Manchester City’s Maine Road ground in the Bert Trautmann biopic, The Keeper.

The wind circulates, which must play havoc with the high ball. Every few minutes a plane will fly low over the ground on its way to or from Belfast City (George Best) Airport, giving groundhoppers that perfect Oval memento of a plane and a floodlight to post on social media as a #FloodlightFriday.

Glentoran v Linfield: The ‘Bel Clasico’

Glentoran’s big rival is Linfield, the most successful domestic side in world football, who play across town at Windsor Park. The ‘Bel Clasico’ is the big match in Northern Ireland with a rivalry dating back to the last 19^thcentury. The derby stepped up a notch when major force Belfast Celtic withdrew from the league in 1949, and the Bel Clasico shatters potential preconceptions around Northern Irish football as it’s a sporting and not a political rivalry. 

In 1985, the two competed in a match that became known as the ‘pig and chicken final’, when Glentoran fans released a cockerel to represent their club and a pig in a blue jacket to represent Linfield.

There is always talk of redevelopment, so get to The Oval while you can! You won’t regret it. While you are in East Belfast, be sure to check out Dundela’s Wilgar Park ground and George Best’s House. The Belfast Celtic Museum (book ahead online) and Irish FA Tours at Windsor Park are also well worth it.

My book, Shades of Green: A Journey into Irish Football, is a part-groundhop/part-history discovery of Irish football as an outsider and is out NOW via Pitch Publishing.