Historic footage of two prestige friendlies. First, on 30 December 1952, at Distillery’s Grosvenor Park ground, the first full match played under floodlights, anywhere in Ireland, took place. The home side’s opposition were English team Burnley, then challenging for the English First Division Championship.

Also featured here is Distillery’s third ‘Floodlight Friendly’, on 29 January 1953, against English League Division 2 side, Blackburn Rovers.

This film was digitised as part of the BFI's Unlocking Film Heritage project.
 

12,000 attended the Burnley game, paying between 2s and 12s 6d to witness this momentous event. This revenue helped to pay the £750 that it cost to bring Burnley over. Burnley, who had no game the previous Saturday, brought their full League side, including Internationals Jimmy McIlroy (Northern Ireland) and Billy Elliott (England). Burnley triumphed 3-2. By the end of the game, both players and spectators were suffering the effects of the floodlight glare. The match against Blackburn would also end in a Distillery loss, the visitors winning 5-1. This historic footage is courtesy of the National Museums Northern Ireland collection and was digitised as part of the BFI's Unlocking Film Heritage Project . 

Research provided by Dawson Simpson, Historian for Lisburn Distillery F.C.

• Lisburn Distillery
• Football on Film - BFI