At the A.G.M. of the North Down League in 1974, the Club Representatives decided to accept into membership only two of the seven applicants. The five unsuccessful Clubs, who were mainly from the Ards Peninsula, rallied behind Roy Bunting and set about forming a rival league which was christened the Down Area Winter Football League.

Having enjoyed an improvement in their fortunes in their second season in the North Down League, the Bangor Swifts committee saw the possibility of forming a regular 2nd.X1 and entering it in the new league.

It was generally recognised at the time that the Down Area League would be of a lower standard and this suited the 2nd.XI who, after a poor start, finished a creditable 7th. in the ten team Championship.

With a regular 2nd.XI to back them up, Bangor Swifts 1st. XI continued their improvement and also finished 7th. in the 12 team North Down League.

Season 1974/75 also saw the Swifts enter the Junior Shield for the first time. This certainly turned out to be a memorable experience for a couple of reasons. At a personal level, captain Stewarty Melville was apprehended by the traffic police when he reversed up a motorway slip road after missing the turn off on the way to the first match. On the park, it took no less than three matches to decide the 1st. round tie against Ballinderry Y.M. in those days before penalty shoot outs were introduced. Unfortunately the Swifts eventually lost out when they were defeated 2-5 in their second visit to the Co. Antrim village.

Having been born at the height of the so called “Troubles”, the Swifts had remained’ remarkably unaffected by all the turmoil going on around them. However, on the evening of Friday 28 February 1975, tragedy struck when Michael Convery stepped out from a Chinese Restaurant onto the misty Antrim Road in Belfast. Out of the shadows a terrorist gang opened fire and Michael was fatally wounded.

Not many Swifts players were well acquainted with Michael as he had only played one game for the lst. XI, a league match against Cregagh Y.C. earlier that season. However Michael, who was a friend of the Swifts Brendan McBrien from their Queen’s University days, had been registered as a utility player and was due to line up for the 1st. XI the following day, ironically also against Cregagh Y.C.