October 13, 1972: Derry City Withdraw From the Irish Football League

Brandywell Stadium

October 13, 1972: Derry City Football Club withdraw from the Irish Football League, the governing body for soccer in Northern Ireland, after what turned out to be the hardest year of "The Troubles" in that "country."

The conflict was especially dangerous in their own city, known as Londonderry to the governments in Belfast and London, but as simply "Derry" -- or, perhaps, "Free Derry" -- to the Catholic people who lived there. Ireland has had a few days in its history known as "Bloody Sunday," including "The Battle of the Bogside," earlier in the year in Derry.

Founded in 1928, and nicknamed the Candystripes for their shirts of red and white stripes, and playing in Brandywell Stadium on the west bank of the River Foyle, 3 miles from the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, Derry City won their only title in the IFL in the 1964-65 season. They had also won the Irish Cup, Northern Ireland's version of England's FA Cup, in 1949, 1954 and 1964.

Surviving in junior football for 13 years, Derry City entered the Republic of Ireland's football system for 1985-86, joining its 2nd division, known as the League of Ireland First Division. They were an immediate success. On February 23, 1986, "the randy Brandywell," as its fans call the stadium, hosted 9,800 fans, still a record attendance for a League of Ireland team, for an FAI Cup Second Round match against Finn Harps of County Donegal. In Ireland, Derry vs. Finn Harps is known as the Northwest Derby.

Derry City won the title in their 2nd season, 1986-87, and were promoted to the actual first division, known as the Premier Division, winning the title in 1989 and 1997. In 1989, 1995, 2002 and 2006, they won the ROI's version of the FA Cup, the FAI Cup. (The Republic's governing body is the FAI, the Football Association of Ireland. Northern Ireland's is the IFA, the Irish Football Association.)

The Cup win over 1989 meant that they won their adoptive country's "Double." They also won the League of Ireland Cup that year, so their victory in the FAI Cup Final on April 30, 1989, at Dalymount Park in Dublin, the last of the three trophies available, gave them a domestic "Treble."

The club was expelled from the LOI in November 2009, when it was discovered there were unofficial secondary contracts with players. It was reinstated a few weeks later but, as punishment, was demoted to the First Division.

The club eventually won its way back to the Premier Division. Although they have not won the league since 1997, they have won the FAI Cup again in 2012 and 2022. More importantly, there has never been a violent incident at a Derry City game since they entered the LOI in 1985. In 2018, the stadium was renamed the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, in memory of McBride, Derry's Captain, who died in his sleep, without explanation, the year before. He was only 27 years old.

As I said, Derry City have won the top division of Republic of Ireland football twice. Teams from County Dublin have won 58 titles, while all other Counties combined have won 41.

Shamrock Rovers, of Tallaght, south of Dublin, have won it 20 times. Shelbourne, of North Dublin, have won 13. Bohemian, or "Bohs," of North Dublin, have won 11. St. Patrick's Athletic, of Inchicore, west of Dublin, have won 8. Drumcondra, of North Dublin, have won 5. St. James's Gate, of South Dublin, have won 2. Dolphin, of Dolphin's Barn in South Dublin, won the title in 1935 and finished 2nd in 1936, but the Depression meant that it couldn't pay wage increases, and went out of business.

Dundalk, of County Louth, have won 14 titles. Waterford, of the County of the same name, have won 6. Sligo Rovers, of County Sligo, have won 3. Limerick, of the County of the same name, have won 2. Athlone Town, of County Roscommon, have won 2. Drogheda United of County Louth won the title in 2007.

In County Cork, Cork United won 5 before going out of business in 1948. Cork Athletic, intended as United's replacement, won 2 before going out of business in 1957. Cork Hibernians won the title in 1971, and Cork Celtic won it in 1974, before going out of business in 1977 and 1980, respectively, and being replaced by Cork City in 1984. Cork City have won 3 titles.    

In Northern Ireland, the Irish Football League was reorganized into the NIFL Premiership in 2008. Overall, Linfield, of South Belfast, have won 56 titles, more national league titles than any team in any country; Glentoran, of East Belfast, have won 23; Belfast Celtic, of West Belfast, won 14 before withdrawing from the League in 1949, for reasons similar to Derry City's, and went out of business in 1960; Crusaders, of North Belfast, have won 7; Distillery, of West Belfast, won 6 titles, the last in 1963, before moving to South Belfast and becoming Lisburn Distillery, and haven't won one since; Cliftonville, of North Belfast, have won 5; Portadown, of County Armagh, 4; Glenavon, of Lurgan in County Armagh, 3, the last in 1960; Coleraine, of County Londonderry, 1, in 1974; Queen's Island, of South Belfast, 1, in 1924, and went out of business in 1929; and Ards, of Bangor in County Down, 1, in 1958.

UPDATE: In the LOI, Shamrock Rovers won a 21st title in 2023, and a 22nd in 2025. Shelbourne won a 14th title in 2024. In the NIFL, Linfield won a 57th title in 2025. Larne, of County Antrim, which had never won the title before, have now won 3: In 2023, 2024 and 2026.

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October 13, 1973 was a Friday -- a Friday the 13th. Summer Sanders, winner of 2 Gold Medals in swimming at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, was born on this day.

Also on this day, a Friday the 13th, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, taking off from Uruguay's capital of Montevideo and intending to land in Chile's capital of Santiago, crashes in the Andes Mountains outside Malargüe, Argentina. Of the 45 people on board, only 24 survived the crash.

The passengers were members of Old Christians, a rugby team from Montevideo, traveling to play Santiago team Old Boys. Those who survived did so as best they could, but their food ran out quickly. Eventually, they turned to cannibalizing the bodies of those killed. On October 29, 8 of the survivors were killed in an avalanche.

By the time they were finally rescued on December 23 -- a Christmas miracle -- only 16 of the passengers were still alive. Incredibly, 48 years later, 15 of those 16 are still alive. In 1993, the film Alive, starring Ethan Hawke, dramatized the events.

In sports: Baseball was between its Playoffs and the World Series. The Oakland Athletics went on to beat the Cincinnati Reds in 7 games.

There were 7 games played in the NBA:

* The Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 112-104 at the Boston Garden.

* The Buffalo Braves beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 104-101 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Bullets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 115-98 at the Baltimore Civic Center (now the CFG Bank Arena).

* The Houston Rockets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 109-108 at the Cleveland Arena. Austin Carr scored 40 in defeat for the Cavs.

* The Detroit Pistons beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bulls, 100-91 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns, 117-105 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led all players on the night with 41 points.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat their arch-rivals, the Portland Trail Blazers, 92-84 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum. Spencer Haywood scored 35 points and grabbed 16 rebounds for the Sonics.

And there were 3 games played in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets beat the Kentucky Colonels, 114-90 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Carolina Cougars beat the Indiana Pacers, 106-88 at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis.

* And the Denver Rockets beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 109-100 at the Peterson Gym on the campus of San Diego State University.

There were no games scheduled in the NHL. The World Hockey Association's Quebec Nordiques played their 1st home game at Le Colisée de Québec. They beat the Alberta Oilers 6-0. They would reach the WHA Finals in 1975 and win the title in 1977.

Not so lucky are fellow their fellow WHA home debutantes, the Philadelphia Blazers. First, they were frozen out of using Philly's new arena, The Spectrum, because it was owned by Flyers owner Ed Snider. So they had to use the much-older Convention Hall of the Philadelphia Civic Center.

Then, their 3 biggest acquisitions all got hurt in preseason: John McKenzie (also their head coach) and Derek Sanderson, from the 1970 and '72 Stanley Cup-winning Boston Bruins; and former Flyers goalie Bernie Parent. Then, on October 12, they lost their 1st regular-season game, 4-3, to the New England Whalers at the Boston Garden, where, presumably, some people had bought tickets expecting to see McKenzie and Sanders.

But on this night, when the Zamboni was driven onto the playing service, the improperly made ice could not support its weight, and it cracked. The game was postponed. They ended up losing their 1st 7 games, including their eventual home opener, on October 25, 8-2 to the Cleveland Crusaders. Their 1st win finally came on October 27, 5-4 over the Los Angeles Sharks.

Incredibly, they went 38-33 (no ties) the rest of the way, and make the Playoffs, but are swept by the Crusaders. So few people came out to see them that they moved to Vancouver for 1973-74, and had to sell Parent back to the Flyers, where he helped them win back-to-back Stanley Cups. The Blazers became the Calgary Cowboys in 1975, and folded in 1977.

The Minnesota Fighting Saints, named for their home city, lost their debut, 4-3 to the Winnipeg Jets at the St. Paul Civic Center. And the Houston Aeros and the Los Angeles Sharks made their debuts, against each other, with the Aeros winning, 3-2 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.