The Club was formed
in 1932 by the members of Lisburn Cricket Club to keep their members together during the winter months. It played in the British
Legion Hall until the late fifties and then moved to the Black Hall on the Hillhall Road.
In the sixties it fund raised with the members of
Hilden Tennis Club, with whom it had many members in common and with grant aid from the Department of Education it built the
first stage of the current club. Play started here in November 1971.
A
number of extensions have been added over the years – the major one being the addition of a 12 court badminton hall
in 1996 with the help of Lottery Funding. This hall is also used by ten schools during the day and for
netball and football – one of its current users being the Manchester United Academy of Excellence.
Alpha is the largest club in Ireland and over
the last 15 years has won the All-Ireland Senior Cup 10 times. In doing so it qualified to represent Ireland in the Europe
Cup – a competition for the champion club teams of all the European countries.
Alpha is divided into a number of sections decided mainly
by the standard of player and partly by age. The Senior Club plays on Tuesday evenings with players of approximately
League Division 1 standard. The Minor Club plays on Monday evenings with players ranging from League Division 2 to Division
6 standard. The Tyros Club plays on Wednesday evenings with players from League Divisions 7 to 9 standard. On Thursday
evenings form 6.00 - 8.00 there is play for older juveniles who will soon be asimilated into an adult section.
The Racquets Club has over 550
children, the majority of whom play badminton. The children are divided into 10 sections playing on Friday evenings and
on Saturdays from 9.00 – 6.00 with 20 league teams playing in the Ulster Juvenile Leagues. The 8 Saturday sections are
administered by Badminton Ireland qualified coaches and, in addition, coaching squads are organised for players requesting
additional coaching.
The three adult sections have
12 teams in the leagues with entries also in the All-Ireland Cup competitions. The Senior section has many
current Irish International players, all of the Northern Commonwealth Games team and many promising junior players many
of whom have played for Ireland.
Each year Club Championships are
held for most of the sections of the Club with preliminary rounds during the season and about fifty finals on a Saturday at
the end of the season – late March or early April depending on when Easter falls.