1956–57 Irish League

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.

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

Ards

Ballymena United

Bangor

Coleraine

Derry City

Glenavon

Portadown

Belfast teams : Cliftonville
Crusaders
Distillery
Glentoran
Linfield

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Location of teams in the Irish League from 1949–1972

Cliftonville

Crusaders

Distillery

Glentoran

Linfield

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

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)