Ulster Footballer of the Year

The Ulster Footballer of the Year is an association football player of the year award in Northern Ireland. One of two player of the year awards in Northern Ireland, the other is the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association award. The Ulster award is the older of the two.

It is awarded by Castlereagh Glentoran Supporters' Club to the player who is adjudged by an independent committee to have been the best of the season in the NIFL Premiership. The award has been presented since the 1950–51 season, when the inaugural winner was Kevin McGarry of Cliftonville. The current holder of the award is Chris Shields, of Linfield.^[1] Glenn Ferguson has won the award most often: on three separate occasions.^[2]

Winners edit

Year	Player	Club
1950–51	Kevin McGarry	Cliftonville
1951–52	Eric Treverrow	Ballymena United
1952–53	Sammy Hughes	Glentoran
1953–54	Jimmy Delaney	Derry City
1954–55	Maurice McVeigh	Glenavon
1955–56	Dick Keith	Linfield
1956–57	Wilbur Cush	Glenavon
1957–58	Jackie Milburn	Linfield
1958–59	Clancy McDermott	Coleraine
1959–60	Billy Neill	Glentoran
1960–61	Albert Campbell	Crusaders
1961–62	Tommy Dickson	Linfield
1962–63	Roy Rea	Glentoran
1963–64	Trevor Thompson	Glentoran
1964–65	Dougie Wood	Derry City
1965–66	Tommy Leishman	Linfield
1966–67	Walter Bruce	Glentoran
1967–68	Sammy Hatton	Linfield
1968–69	Billy McAvoy	Ards
1969–70	Billy Humphries	Ards
1970–71	Bryan Hamilton	Linfield
1971–72	Billy Humphries	Ards
1972–73	Sammy Lunn	Portadown
1973–74	Arthur Stewart	Ballymena United
1974–75	Eric Bowyer	Linfield
1975–76	Warren Feeney	Glentoran
1976–77	Peter Rafferty	Linfield
1977–78	Jim Martin	Linfield
1978–79	Roy Walsh	Glentoran
1979–80	Lindsay McKeown	Linfield
1980–81	George Dunlop	Linfield
1981–82	Felix Healy	Coleraine
1982–83	Jim Cleary	Glentoran
1983–84	Bobby Carlisle	Cliftonville
1984–85	Martin McGaughey	Linfield
1985–86	Pat McCoy	Crusaders
1986–87	Raymond McCoy	Coleraine
1987–88	Alan Patterson	Glentoran
1988–89	Lindsay McKeown	Linfield
1989–90	Ollie Ralph	Newry Town
1990–91	Stephen McBride	Glenavon
1991–92	Raymond Morrison (footballer)	Glentoran
1992–93	Stevie Cowan	Portadown
1993–94	Noel Bailie	Linfield
1994–95	Kevin McKeown	Crusaders
1995–96	Peter Kennedy	Portadown
1996–97	Stephen Baxter	Crusaders
1997–98	Marty Tabb	Cliftonville
1998–99	John Devine	Glentoran
1999–2000	Vinny Arkins	Portadown
2000–01	Glenn Ferguson	Linfield
2001–02	Mickey Keenan	Portadown
2002–03	Gary Smyth	Glentoran
2003–04	Glenn Ferguson	Linfield
2004–05	Paul Leeman	Glentoran
2005–06	Glenn Ferguson	Linfield
2006–07	William Murphy	Linfield
2007–08	Alan Mannus	Linfield
2008–09	Chris Scannell	Cliftonville
2009–10	Rory Patterson	Coleraine
2010–11	Alan Blayney	Linfield
2011–12	Gary McCutcheon	Ballymena United
2012–13	Liam Boyce	Cliftonville
2013–14	Joe Gormley	Cliftonville
2014–15	Paul Heatley	Crusaders
2015–16	Billy Joe Burns	Crusaders
2016–17	Jamie Mulgrew	Linfield
2017–18	Gavin Whyte^[3]	Crusaders
2018–19	Jimmy Callacher	Linfield
2019–20	No award due to COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland
2020–21	Shayne Lavery	Linfield
2021–22	Chris Shields	Linfield
2022–23	Leroy Millar	Larne

By player edit

Player	Total	Years
Glenn Ferguson	3	2001, 2004, 2006
Billy Humphries	2	1970, 1972
Lindsay McKeown	2	1980, 1990

By country edit

Club	Players	Total
Northern Ireland	56	60
Scotland	7	7
Republic of Ireland	3	3
England	1	1

By club edit

Club	Players	Total
Linfield	21	24
Glentoran	13	13
Crusaders	7	7
Cliftonville	6	6
Portadown	5	5
Coleraine	4	4
Ards	2	3
Ballymena United	3	3
Glenavon	3	3
Derry City	2	2
Newry City	1	1

References edit

^ BBC
^ M. Brodie (ed.), Northern Ireland Soccer Yearbook 2010–2011. Belfast:Ulster Tatler Publications
^ "Gavin Whyte:Winger named Ulster Footballer of the Year". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 April 2018.

External links edit

Irish League Archive - Player Awards

[1] BBC

[2] M. Brodie (ed.), Northern Ireland Soccer Yearbook 2010–2011. Belfast:Ulster Tatler Publications

[3] "Gavin Whyte:Winger named Ulster Footballer of the Year". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 April 2018.

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