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== Sport == ===Athletics=== The Ballydrain Harrier and Athletic Club was founded in 1932 and originally trained from The Old Schoolhouse, Ballydrain. For many years it was one of the most successful clubs in Northern Ireland, but went into decline, and by 2010 had only a few members left. A move to training at the North Down Cricket Club brought about a resurgence in membership, continuing to grow quickly with members training and racing weekly. ===Motorsport=== {{main|Ards Circuit}} The Ards Circuit through Comber was a motorsport [[street circuit]] used for [[RAC Tourist Trophy]] sports car races from 1928 until 1936. At the time it was Northern Ireland's premier sporting event, regularly attracting crowds in excess of a quarter of a million people. <!-- moved to Circuit article From 1928 to 1936, the [[RAC Tourist Trophy]] (TT) motorcar races took place on a closed road circuit encompassing Newtownards, Comber and [[Dundonald, County Down|Dundonald]] in County Down, run in a clockwise direction. The pits were still visible up until the 1960s. Industrialist and pioneer of the modern [[agricultural tractor]], [[Harry Ferguson]], was instrumental in setting up the race, which was known as the Ards TT. At the time it was Northern Ireland's premier sporting event, regularly attracting crowds in excess of a quarter of a million people. Although it was a speed event, the entries were handicapped in order to allow cars of very different sizes and capabilities to race against each other on supposedly even terms over 30 laps (35 laps from 1933) of the {{Convert | 13.7 | mi}} circuit. On 5 September 1936, in wet conditions, local driver Jack Chambers lost control of his [[Riley (motor-car)|Riley]] and crashed into the crowd, killing eight spectators. This tragedy brought an end to nine years of racing over the Ards road circuit.<ref name="BBC Article">{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7567063.stm |title=Memorial revives Ards TT memories|access-date=2009-01-05|work= BBC | date=18 August 2008}}</ref> --> ===Football=== One of Comber's finest sporting moments came on Christmas morning 1991 when local amateur [[association football|football]] team [[Comber Recreation F.C.|Comber Rec.]], managed by Mervyn Boyce, overcame favourites [[Brantwood F.C.|Brantwood]] to lift the [[Steel and Sons Cup]] for the first time. Comber also lifted the trophy again on Christmas Day 2023 defeating [[ Crumlin Star F.C.|Crumlin Star]] ===Cricket=== Comber is also the home of one of Ireland's oldest and most successful cricket clubs, [[North Down Cricket Club]], which has played its home matches at [[The Green, Comber|The Green]] since 1857. It has won the [[NCU Challenge Cup]] a record 30 times, the [[NCU Senior League]] outright on 17 occasions and the [[Irish Senior Cup (cricket)|Irish Senior Cup]] 3 times since its inception in 1984. ===Hockey=== [[North Down Hockey Club]] is a field hockey club affiliated to the Ulster Hockey Union. The club was founded in 1896. The club was formed by members of North Down Cricket Club in 1896 and is one of the founder-members of the [[Ulster Hockey Union]]. The first reported Club match in Ulster was played in Comber against [[Cliftonville Hockey Club|Cliftonville]] on 7 November 1896, with North Down winning 8β0. In 1899-1900 North Down won their first two trophies. In the only year when the Keightley Cup for the [[Ulster Senior League (Men's Hockey)|Ulster Senior League]] was played for on a knock-out basis, Antrim were defeated 3β2 in the final and in the [[Kirk Cup]] Final Cliftonville were beaten 4β2.<ref>Belfast Newsletter 23 April 1900 Page 3</ref> North Down Hockey Club is based at The Green in Comber, home of [[North Down Cricket Club]]. The first hockey pitch was at the Castle Lane side of the ground on the cricket outfield. A celebration game against Cliftonville as part of the Centenary was played on this same pitch. In 1994 the decision was taken to play all first team games on the [[artificial turf]] pitch at Glenford Park, Newtownards. In 1999 the team returned to Comber and now play at Comber Leisure Centre. The Club still uses the synthetic pitch at Glenford Park and also at Nendrum College, Comber so that all home games are played on synthetic surfaces.{{fact|date=August 2021}}
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