Half a century ago, a bold idea changed sport in Kesh forever.
Two struggling village teams – one football, one cricket – came together not just to survive, but to build something that would endure for generations.
This year, the North Fermanagh Cricket and Association Football Club (NFCAFC) celebrates its golden jubilee, marking 50 years since that unifying moment in 1975 when Kesh Cricket Club and Kesh United Football Club merged to form a single club with a shared home and purpose.
The seeds of the merger were sown in August 1974 at the old Kesh Secondary School, where local sportsmen agreed that working together offered the only path forward.
The footballers had no fixed pitch, rotating between four temporary grounds, while the cricketers were based on school fields. A new structure and identity was urgently needed… and the NFCAFC provided it.
Original member George McFarland, who played both cricket and football, still remembers how it all began.
“I started with Kesh Cricket Club in 1969,” he said. “Later, Kesh United needed a goalkeeper and I stayed in nets for 35 years. It’s been some journey and I’m proud to have been part of it.”
A key figure in this transformation of the cricket and football clubs was the late Bob Stewart, a schoolteacher at Duke of Westminster High School (now Devenish College).
A devoted cricket enthusiast, Bob championed the idea of unity, believing collaboration would secure the long-term future of both codes.
By the end of its first year, the club had 70 playing and 75 non-playing members, a testament to community buy-in.
That same year, they purchased a 4.4-acre field from Stuart Kennedy, securing a permanent home – something both teams had previously lacked.
Another founding member, Geoff Delap, said the sense of community spirit in those early days was immense.
“We built it from the ground up… clubhouse, fields, facilities,” he said. “Fifty years on, we’re proud of what we’ve achieved.”
In November 1976, the club opened its first clubhouse, a 60ft by 20ft sectional building purchased from the Valley Hotel in Fivemiletown.
Rebuilt after a bombing in Fivemiletown, it was dismantled, transported, and reassembled by volunteers – and still stands today. For many years the footballers got changed at the clubhouse, but then travelled the short distance to play their matches at Mantlin Park in the village.
However, expansion continued in 2001 with the purchase of what is now known as the Michael Connelly Pitch right beside the clubhouse.
For Wills Brimstone, another founding player, seeing the club grow is an immense source of pride, particularly when recalling its finest moment.
“I’m almost 80 now,” he said. “Back in the early years, success meant avoiding relegation. But in 2002, we won the Irish Junior Cup… and the whole of Kesh celebrated. It was the talk of the town for months, and still is to this day.”