Institute

When North End Olympic folded, its former players and supporters gathered at Derry's Diamond Hotel to keep the game going, and Institute Football Club grew out of that meeting in October 1905, registered initially as a junior club of the North West Football Association.

Senior football came much later, in 1999, and within three seasons the 'Stute had climbed into the top flight, finishing second in the First Division in 2001/02. A sixth-place finish the year after remains the highest the club has reached in the Premiership, and it has bounced between divisions ever since — promoted through the Championship title in 2017/18, then relegated again once the pandemic cut the 2019/20 season short.

The North-West derby against Limavady United is the fixture that matters most, with Coleraine treated as a regional rival too. Derry City, despite sharing a ground with Institute, plays in a different association, and no real footballing rivalry has grown between them.

That ground-share came out of necessity. Institute had played at the Riverside Stadium in Drumahoe since 1980, until flooding wrecked it in August 2017. A spell at Wilton Park followed before the club moved into the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, Derry City's own home, where the sky blue and maroon of the 'Stute now play in front of a 6,300 capacity, a little over half of it seated.

Darron Gibson, who went on to Manchester United and Everton, and James McClean, capped 103 times by Ireland during his time at Sunderland, both came through Institute's youth ranks. A 2,097-seat stadium has been proposed for Clooney Park West, but for now the club remains a tenant at Brandywell, still without a ground to call its own.