Belfast Hammers, the West Ham United Supporters’ Club in the Northern Irish capital, celebrated its 25th anniversary in the company of Hammers legends Steve Lomas and Mark Ward on 26 April.
In 1999, lifelong Hammer Peter O’Prey decided to start a Northern Ireland Supporters Club for fans over the other side of the Irish Sea. Little did he know 25 years on they would have a regular presence at most of West Ham’s games over the last two-and-a-half decades.
As of May 2024, there are 77 members of the Belfast Hammers compared to the previous numbers of 18-20 members per season, which shows the rapid growth of the group across the city and Northern Ireland.
The group gathered at the Balmoral Hotel, Belfast with Lomas and Ward to celebrate the milestone event, where members in attendance were able to hear from West Ham footballing legends.
O’Prey, the founder and current Chairman of the Belfast Hammers, is proud of what he has built and achieved over the years, and is planning on releasing a book called The Only Religion is West Ham later this year.
Speaking at the event, he said: “I went to West Ham for many years with different people, and they were all from the one community. I always believed that there was a lot of Hammers fans here, so we decided to start a club that sort of showed the breadth of people in Northern Ireland of all persuasions. So that was how the Belfast Hammers was formed, it was cross-community thing in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement.
“We've had several hundred members over the years, so the club was founded with that in mind and to make life easy getting all the way over to London. There are more West Ham fans in Belfast than people think. The club started from very humble beginnings, going over twice a season. Nowadays we have Season Ticket Holders, so we have people who go to every match and we have people who go more regularly than that.
“The club has about three official trips every year where a lot of people go. I think last year we had something like 17 home games out of 19 or 20 where had someone attending the game and we also have a few who try to attend away games but that can be a wee bit more difficult. The aim of the group is to meet once a month, but we meet for important games and actually had 250 come in the door for the [UEFA] Europa [Conference] League final.”
Lomas is one of West Ham’s greatest midfielders of modern times, known for his resilience, tough-tackling and willingness to put his body on the line. For many of the 227 league and cup appearances he made while at the Boleyn Ground, Lomas was club captain and the armband was something he wore with pride – just as much as he had when in attendance at the 25th anniversary event of the Belfast Hammers.
“It's great to come back to have a chat, talk about old times and how well the Club's been doing this last couple of years,” Lomas enthused.
“It’s a superb achievement [having a West Ham Supporters’ Club in Northern Ireland for 25 years]. I think the good thing about it is that everybody's welcome and football is for everybody. It brought communities together compared to 25 years ago when it was a little bit more segregated. It’s great that Peter has set up this club.
"I think they [Supporters’ Clubs] are the lifeblood. People that have got passion and that [desire] to come [to the games]. I think the two clubs I played for, Man City and West Ham, are very alike. They support their clubs through thick and thin and it just shows the loyalty these fans provide the club, spending hard-earned cash to go across and support them, especially now in this economic crisis. People are still going out working and spending the money to follow the Claret and Blue Army.”
Ward was another who truly understood what it meant to be a Hammer, after making 165 appearances throughout a five-year spell at the Boleyn Ground.
And he enjoyed spending an evening with Lomas and the Belfast Hammers sharing memories of his spell with West Ham.
“Me and Steve go back a long way. He was my boot boy at Man City, and obviously he went to West Ham and I went to City,” said Ward. “He was my apprentice and used to clean my boots. But what a great player he was.
“It's fantastic to be able to speak about my team that I played [for in] the 85/86 season, the highest the Club's ever finished, third. It was a fantastic time and what a great team that was.
“I went to the 25th anniversary of the Dublin Hammers a few years back. I'm here now tonight and it's unbelievable that, you know, you've got so many West Ham fans in Belfast.
“It's incredible because obviously you've got a lot of Man United fans, Liverpool fans, Man City, Man United, Everton fans. But to be here and this is a big occasion tonight. The 25th anniversary and it's great to be here, it's an honour.”
