Solitude

Solitude takes its name from a house that no longer stood by the time anyone kicked a ball there — Solitude House, built in 1785 and demolished decades before Cliftonville picked the meadow beside its old cricket ground for a new home in 1890.

For much of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Solitude served as Ireland's home venue, staging eleven full internationals. A 2-2 draw with England in March 1894 was the first time Ireland had avoided defeat to their neighbours, and a 4-3 win over Wales followed in 1897. The first penalty ever awarded in an international match was given on this pitch. Ireland's last recorded fixture here, another draw with England, came in February 1910, and the ground has since hosted twenty-three Irish Cup finals.

Fire destroyed the original main stand during an Irish Cup tie in January 1949. Its replacement, a two-tier stand built in the 1950s, stood for half a century before safety concerns forced the upper deck to close at the end of the 2007/08 season. The McAlery Stand, opened in 2008 and later named for the club's founder, replaced the old Cage End terrace with new dressing rooms and a press area. Cliftonville dug in through all of it, and in July 2013, with protests running through Belfast that summer, still got a Champions League qualifier against Celtic played out at Solitude. The pitch itself has moved on from grass altogether, switched to synthetic surfaces first in 2010 and again, to its current FIFA Pro-rated turf, in 2021.