1971–72 Irish League

Irish League
Season	1971–72
Champions	Glentoran ; 15th Irish title
Matches played	132
Goals scored	475 (3.6 per match)
Top goalscorer	Peter Watson; Des Dickson; (20 goals each)
	← 1970–71 1972–73 →

Belfast

Belfast teams : Cliftonville
Crusaders
Distillery
Glentoran
Linfield

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Location of teams in the Irish League from 1949–1972

1971–72 Irish League is located in Greater Belfast

Cliftonville

Crusaders and Distillery

Glentoran

Linfield

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Location of Belfast-based teams in the 1971–72 Irish League

The 1971–72 Irish League was the 71st edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Northern Irish football. The league consisted of 12 teams, and Glentoran won the championship.

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification
1	Glentoran (C)	22	14	5	3	50	17	2.941	33	Qualification for the European Cup first round
2	Portadown	22	13	4	5	49	25	1.960	30
3	Ards	22	12	5	5	49	30	1.633	29
4	Linfield	22	10	7	5	48	29	1.655	27
5	Crusaders	22	10	5	7	36	35	1.029	25
6	Coleraine	22	9	7	6	51	40	1.275	25
7	Ballymena United	22	8	5	9	34	34	1.000	21
8	Distillery	22	7	7	8	34	44	0.773	21
9	Glenavon	22	7	6	9	36	40	0.900	20
10	Derry City	22	4	8	10	41	55	0.745	16	Withdrew
11	Bangor	22	2	5	15	28	62	0.452	9
12	Cliftonville	22	2	4	16	19	64	0.297	8

Source: rsssf.com
(C) Champions

Results

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

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 1971–72 in Northern Irish football
Domestic leagues	Irish League
Domestic cups	Irish Cup Gold Cup City Cup Ulster Cup County Antrim Shield
All-Ireland competitions	Blaxnit Cup
Other competitions	Texaco Cup
European competitions	European Cup UEFA Cup European Cup Winners' Cup
Related to national team	British Home Championship UEFA Euro 1972 qualifying (Group 4)

v t e 1971–72 in European football (UEFA)
« 1970–71 1972–73 »
Domestic leagues	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark '71 '72 England Faroe Islands '71 '72 Finland '71 '72 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '71 '72 Israel Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '71 '72 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union '71 '72 Spain Sweden '71 '72 Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia
Domestic cups	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Faroe Islands '71 '72 Finland '71 '72 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '71 '72 Israel Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '71 '72 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania San Marino Scotland Soviet Union '71 '72 Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Wales Yugoslavia
League cups	England Scotland
UEFA competitions	European Cup (Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final)
Non-UEFA competitions	Intertoto Cup Balkans Cup '71 '72