The origins of Shankill FC can be traced all the way back to 1966 when the first seeds were planted by Bertie Messitt, the founder of Shankill Youth Club. Bertie was an Olympian and holder of sixteen Irish athletic records for distances from two miles up to and including the marathon. When Bertie retired from competition in 1966, he discovered that a group of young Shankill boys were regularly travelling all the way to Sallynoggin to play football. The other local Shankill soccer clubs did not have the capacity to cater to younger players at that time.

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Bertie was initially planning to form an athletic club but instead decided to start a club where people would have an opportunity to participate in multiple sports. He named it the Shankill Youth Club and it grew quickly to cater to athletics, junior soccer, basketball, and table tennis. Within a few short years, the Soccer Section had several successful teams with one player receiving an International Cap for Ireland at under 15 level.

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With the rapid growth of population in Shankill, the need for schoolboy football grew larger and this demand spawned the development of a new club - Valeview Shankill Schoolboys F.C. The club was subsequently renamed to Shankill FC in 2010 to reflect the addition of the girl’s teams and holds that name today.

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Currently, Shankill FC comprises of over 30 teams, three academies, and approx. 500 boys & girls of all ages from age 4 to 18 years of age. We compete in the Dublin & District Schoolboys League (DDSL), and the Metropolitan Girls League (MGL). Our headquarters are located in Shanganagh Park, and we have the use of three soccer pitches and an Astro facility. In 2020, in an effort to secure and grow the future of senior football in Shankill, the three senior teams in Shankill merged together to form a new senior team called SVS, (Shankill FC, Valeview Shankill FC, and Shanganagh Cliffs FC). This creates a pathway for our boys to senior level with SVS along with our girls pathway to DLR Waves women's national league team.

When players join Shankill FC, they are joining a club with a long history, a solid infrastructure, and a forward-thinking management team who possess the ability to plan for the needs of players well into the future. We provide the facilities and an excellent, safe, supervised environment to nurture the skills and talent of our young footballers for the future.