There are two local football teams: Ards F. C., who play in the IFA Championship, and Ards Rangers F. C., who play in the Northern Amateur Football League.

* Ards F. C., also of the IFA Championship, also play at Dixon Park

The two teams that play the game are known as the Up ' Ards and the Down ' Ards ( local dialect for " upwards and downwards ").

It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles ( 16 km ) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula.

Ards Rugby Football Club plays at Lansdowne Road, south of the town along the main Comber road.

Viscount Montgomery's harbour ( 1626 ; improved 1640 ), superseding what had hitherto been probably only a small jetty, was built and maintained as a result of the Royal Warrant of 1616 which limited travel between the Ards and the Rhins of Galloway to this port, and that at Portpatrick also owned by Montgomery.

By 1572 Gilbert had turned his attention to the Netherlands, where he fought an unsuccessful campaign in support of the Dutch Sea beggars at the head of a force of 1500 men, many of whom had deserted from Smith's aborted plantation in the Ards of Ulster.

Viscount Montgomery's harbour ( 1626 ; improved 1640 ), superseding what had hitherto been probably only a small jetty, was built and maintained as a result of the Royal Warrant of 1616 which limited travel between the Ards and the Rhins of Galloway to this port, and that at Portpatrick also owned by Montgomery.

Portaferry () is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland, at the southern end of the Ards Peninsula, near the Narrows at the entrance to Strangford Lough.

There are two goal posts 3 miles apart, one at Sturston Mill ( where the Up ' Ards attempt to score ), the other at Clifton Mill ( where the Down ' Ards score ).

For the majority of its course it flows in a generally Southern direction through Dumfries and Galloway, before spilling into the Solway Firth at Ards point.

* Easternmost point – Canon Rock, off Ards Peninsula, County Down at

* Easternmost point – Burr Point, Ards Peninsula, County Down at

* Easternmost point: Burr Point, Ards Peninsula, County Down at

It is located in the townland of Ballyhalbert on the Ards Peninsula in County Down, at longitude 5. 43ºW.

The most easterly point is Big Bow Meel Island, which is a rock situated 900 metres off the Ards Peninsula, County Down, at longitude 5. 42ºW.

RAF Ballyhalbert was a Royal Air Force station at Ballyhalbert on the Ards Peninsula, County Down.

RAF Kirkistown was a satellite to the Royal Air Force ( RAF Fighter Command ) base at Ballyhalbert on the Ards Peninsula in Northern Ireland.

In August 1946, in his first drive in a " proper " racing car, albeit one that was already 20 years old, he broke the lap record at the Ards circuit ( the Ulster venue of the RAC Tourist Trophy race from 1928 to 1936 ).

Campari also raced in the Tourist Trophy Races at the Ards course in Belfast where he finished second to Caracciola's Mercedes.

He also created a cell for Benedictines at St. Andres in Ards ( Black Abbey ) for the houses of Stoke Courcy in Somerset and Lonlay in France, which was near Inishargy, Kircubbin, in present-day County Down.

During the time since Ards left Castleragh Park, they have shared football grounds at Cliftonville's Solitude and Carrick Rangers ' Taylors Avenue, their rivals Bangor's ground Clandeboye Park and now Ballyclare Comrades ' ground Dixon Park.

Back as far as November 2008, the Council had discussed the need for a new Ards stadium.

However, in August 2012 it was announced that Ards Borough Council would not be proceeding with the new stadium, and the plans were shelved.

The first win for the new club came in early September when the Braidmen defeated Ards 2 – 1 at Castlereagh Park ; this sparked a remarkable 12-match unbeaten run which lasted until December, the Sky Blues finished a highly respectable 6th in the 14 team Irish League in their debut season, but it was the Irish Cup which saw the ‘ Ballymena Babes ’ shine.

The Ards Peninsula was the site of a number of airfields built during World War II: RAF Ballyhalbert and its satellite airfield, RAF Kirkistown.

It was decided in April 2009 that Londonderry Park, on the Portaferry Road in Newtownards, was the best option and the Ards Council accepted the tender for redevelopment of the site in September 2010.

Due to the shallow mud of Strangford Lough, Newtown never developed as a port, with goods instead transported from the nearby town of Donaghadee on the Irish Sea coast of the Ards Peninsula.

* Ards Lower ( from the )

* Ards F. C., a Northern Irish football club from Newtownards

* Ards RFC, a Northern Irish rugby football club from Newtownards

The grant included all of the area we know of today as North Down and the Ards, apart from the southern tip of the Peninsula, which was controlled by the Anglo-Norman Savage family.

It is separated from the Irish Sea by the Ards Peninsula.

The Copeland Islands most likely derive their name from the de Coupland family, who settled in the Ards along with other Normans in the 12th century.

John de Courcy, a Norman knight who invaded Ulster, brought Benedictines from Stoke Courcy in Somerset and Lonlay in France, for whom he founded Black Abbey ( St Andrews in Ards ), near Inishargy in the 1180s.

Also arriving was another former player, Jason Hill, former Portadown and Newry City player Cullen Feeney and promising young keeper Ciaran McLaughlin from Ards.

This was successfully opposed in local enquiries and from 1995 it was made up of parts of the districts of Ards, Castlereagh and Down.

* Ballygowan, Ballyrainey, Ballywalter, Bradshaw ’ s Brae, Carrowdore, Central, Comber East, Comber North, Comber West, Glen, Gregstown, Killinchy, Kircubbin, Lisbane, Loughries, Movilla, Portaferry, Portavogie, Scrabo, and Whitespots, from the Ards district.

In boundary changes proposed by a review in 1995, the seat exchanged territory with Strangford, losing the Dundonald area from Castlereagh and gaining a part of Ards.

As part of the nation-wide Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland propose transferring five Ards peninsula wards from Strangford into a modified North Down seat

In addition, the road westwards from the Ards Peninsula, Newtownards and Comber ( the B178 ) crosses here en route to Hillsborough in the west.

The Ards Peninsula () is a peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland, which separates Strangford Lough from the North Channel of the Irish Sea on Ireland's north-east coast.

Originally from the Newtownards area, they played their first gig at the West Winds Roadhouse in the same year, and regularly played around Bangor, Belfast and the Ards area for the next two years, occupying the same scene as the band Stalag 17.

It was there that his talent for rugby union became evident, and he played for the school 1st XV and also the local Ards RFC team from the age of 16.

The Savage family had controlled the Ards from around 1200 but did little to improve the area, instead concentrating on securing their ownership and defences.

From there it meets the Irish Sea coast of the Ards Peninsula at Cloughey, and follows it through Portavogie, Ballyhalbert, Millisle and Donaghadee to Bangor, County Down, from where it forms a major dual carriageway to Belfast.

In 1981, Bland married Jennifer Mary Denise May, now known as Lady Bland ( from 1963-1981 married to the Earl of Strafford, when she was titled Lady Enfield ), and the daughter of William May, the former Ulster Unionist Party MP for Holywood in County Down ( now Ards ) and Minister for Education for Northern Ireland in the 1950s.