1956–57 Irish League

Irish League
Season	1956–57
Champions	Glenavon; 2nd Irish title
Matches played	132
Goals scored	599 (4.54 per match)
Top goalscorer	Jimmy Jones (33)
	← 1955–56 1957–58 →

Belfast

Belfast teams : Cliftonville
Crusaders
Distillery
Glentoran
Linfield

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Location of teams in the Irish League from 1949–1972

1956–57 Irish League is located in Greater Belfast

Location of Belfast-based teams in the Irish League from 1949–1972

The 1956–57 Irish League was the 56th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Northern Irish football. The league comprised 12 teams, and Glenavon won the championship.

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification
1	Glenavon (C)	22	16	3	3	71	22	3.227	35	Qualification for the European Cup preliminary round
2	Linfield	22	14	6	2	67	32	2.094	34
3	Ards	22	13	4	5	66	33	2.000	30
4	Glentoran	22	13	4	5	56	39	1.436	30
5	Coleraine	22	11	3	8	54	51	1.059	25
6	Distillery	22	9	4	9	47	62	0.758	22
7	Bangor	22	7	6	9	47	44	1.068	20
8	Derry City	22	8	3	11	41	52	0.788	19
9	Crusaders	22	8	2	12	37	47	0.787	18
10	Portadown	22	5	6	11	47	66	0.712	16
11	Ballymena United	22	3	3	16	35	72	0.486	9
12	Cliftonville	22	2	2	18	31	79	0.392	6

Source: rsssf.com
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away	ARD	BAN	BLM	CLI	COL	CRU	DIS	DER	GLV	GLT	LIN	POR
Ards		5–4	2–1	4–3	5–1	3–1	8–1	4–2	1–2	3–3	1–1	4–1
Bangor	0–3		1–1	3–0	2–3	1–1	6–1	5–0	0–4	1–1	4–2	1–1
Ballymena United	0–5	2–3		4–3	1–1	5–2	2–4	1–2	0–4	1–3	1–6	6–1
Cliftonville	0–7	2–6	2–1		3–4	0–2	1–6	4–1	1–1	2–4	1–4	1–3
Coleraine	2–1	4–2	4–1	2–2		2–5	2–3	2–1	5–2	3–1	3–3	4–2
Crusaders	0–1	0–1	3–1	4–1	2–3		0–2	3–1	2–1	3–1	0–5	4–2
Distillery	3–1	3–2	5–1	2–0	1–5	2–2		2–0	1–3	2–2	1–4	2–2
Derry City	0–2	1–1	3–0	4–1	2–0	4–1	4–1		2–2	2–1	3–4	2–2
Glenavon	1–0	3–0	5–0	6–1	4–0	2–0	8–1	7–1		3–1	3–2	5–0
Glentoran	1–0	3–1	7–2	2–1	3–2	3–1	3–0	4–0	2–1		1–3	5–4
Linfield	2–2	2–1	3–1	5–1	3–1	4–0	1–1	3–2	0–2	2–2		3–2
Portadown	4–4	2–2	3–3	4–1	2–1	2–1	5–3	2–4	1–3	2–3	0–4

Source: Irish League Archive
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

References

Northern Ireland - List of final tables (RSSSF)

v t e NIFL Premiership seasons
Irish League	1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03
Irish Premier League	2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08
IFA Premiership	2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13
NIFL Premiership	2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Belfast & District League (wartime)	1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19
Northern Regional League (wartime)	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47

v t e 1956–57 in European football (UEFA)
« 1955–56 1957–58 »
Domestic leagues	Albania '56 '57 Austria Belgium Bulgaria '56 '57 Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Faroe Islands '56 '57 Finland '56 '57 France East Germany '56 '57 West Germany (Finals) Greece Hungary '56 '57 Iceland '56 '57 Israel Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway Poland '56 '57 Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union '56 '57 Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia
Domestic cups	Albania '57 Belgium Bulgaria Denmark England Faroe Islands '56 '57 Finland '56 '57 France East Germany '56 '57 West Germany Greece Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '56 '57 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union '57 Spain Switzerland Wales Yugoslavia
League cups	Scotland
UEFA competitions	European Cup (Final)
Non-UEFA competitions	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (Group stage) Mitropa Cup