Those in attendance dressed in combat clothes with dark glasses and slouch hats, indicating the support the group had secured from the UDA as well as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).
A network of clubs was to be established across Northern Ireland with the aim, according to Ian S. Wood, of working to uphold "equal citizenship" and "fight the erosion of their Protestant heritage".
[6] Individual members of the Ulster Clubs also became involved in Peter Robinson's ill-fated attempt to launch an "invasion" of southern Ireland on 7 August 1986, when he led a group of supporters into Clontibret in County Monaghan.
John McMichael was enthusiastic about this development and urged support for the new movement, reasoning that if, as many loyalists suspected, a widespread confrontation was going to follow the agreement, then people who would not normally have joined paramilitary groups could be mobilised through the Ulster Clubs.
[9] The clubs also played a role in the formation of Ulster Resistance in late 1986, fusing with elements of the "Third Force" grouping promoted by Ian Paisley.
[4] In 1988 the British government began to move against the Ulster Clubs, punishing a number of members for various offences under the Public Order Act 1986,[3] whilst by that time leadership of the anti-Anglo-Irish Campaign had been secured by Paisley and Jim Molyneaux.
In October 1988 Wright was imprisoned for refusing to pay fines for traffic offences and public order transgressions, claiming that he was doing so as part of his protest against the agreement.