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.

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

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 and Distillery

Glentoran

Linfield

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

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)