For those outside Ireland, Shamrock Rovers are synonymous with football in Ireland.
One of the oldest clubs in the country—they were founded in 1901—Rovers have also proved to be the country's most successful club.
Winning the league on no less than a record 15 occasions and the FAI Cup 24 times, also a record, they were the first Irish team to play in Europe and the Busby Babes were their first opponents in 1958.
They even helped establish soccer in North America, playing under the guise of Boston Rovers in 1967.
The club has a rich and varied history and a constant supply of Irish internationals have flowed from the club since it's inception, but the best supported club in the land have also had their fair share of bad luck too.
In 1987, then Director Louis Kilcoyne sold the club's ground, Glenmalure Park, to property developers to build an apartment complex. Kilcoyne—who had bought the ground for himself rather than the club—sold it under everybody's noses.
Fans campaigned, some went on vigils and in the end Kilcoyne was forced to resign as Director. The club didn't get Glenmalure Park though.
The battle to save the ground was long and hard. Home matches were boycotted and for a club which boasted average gates of 25,000 in the 60's and 70's, fewer than a thousand showed for matches as the protests intensified.
The Kilcoyne family eventually sold the club as fans forced them out. But the damage had been done, Glenmalure Park was no-more. It was demolished, and so began the longest road to Damascus in football history.
Over the next 21 years, homeless Shamrock Rovers played in practically every ground in Dublin, and even found themselves playing a home match in Cork on one occasion. And although the fan base had been whittled dry, they never stopped singing.
Bitter rivals Bohemians, Shelbourne, and St. Patricks Athletic all opened their doors to Rovers at one stage or another over the course of their homeless run. And wherever they went their fans followed, as if the Pied Piper himself was calling them along.
In 1996 the club was sold to a consortium who, seeing that Rovers were the best supported team in the land, vowed to build a new 10,000 seater stadium in one of Dublin's suburbs, Tallaght. (pronounced Tal-ahh)
Fans were jubilant as it looked like the club were finally going to have a home.
But once again bad luck, bad planning, poor financing, and some gamesmanship by rival sporting federations would block the new stadium at every step.
In 2005, just when the construction of the stadium looked to be progressing after years of planning problems. Rovers went into administration.
After accumulating massive debts in striving to bring European football to the new stadium, the owners had over-stretched, and the club went in search of new owners again as it faced up to the reality of extinction.
Facing relegation for the first time in it's history as the FAI enforced a points deduction resulting from the club going into administration, no prospective buyers came forward.
That would be remedied by the "400 Club".
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about 1 month ago
Thoughtful article. Good to see they've finally got a home to go to. 5 stars potd.
from about 1 month ago
They had a long wait Gerry, thanks for the potd, appreciate it.
about 1 month ago
great article willie, well-written, very informative and very interesting. and it's always good to see an article on an irish football team as the featured article on the world football page. great stuff mate, 5 stars and a potd from me as well.
from about 1 month ago
Thanks for the compliments Yoosef,
Rovers are a team close to my heart for various reasons. It will be great for the club, the community and the league in general for Rovers to finally have a home.
After all the turmoil the club has gone through in recent years they are now held up as the example of how to run a club in Ireland.
Many congratulations to the 400 Club. Liverpool fans, look and learn.
about 1 month ago
The pick is for both your article and for this saga coming to an end. It has been going on for as long as I have been on this planet.
It is great though and hopefully some of the fans will come back and start filling the stadium and you and your family must be delighted. Shamrock Rovers are the Irish League and maybe the League will get a boost from this.
Rumours around Limerick are gathering pace that there may be a 5,000 seater stadium built in the home of Limerick soccer, The Market Fields. It is a possibility now as Jack McCarthy has pumped £2m into training facilities for the team. Two years ago it looked like we may not even have a club and now things are really looking good.
from about 1 month ago
I was at Glenmalure as a child and while I can't remember the match, I do remember Johnny Giles playing and my father reckons there was a crowd of around 20,000 there that day.
I don't think we'll ever see those figures at a league match again but it's really great news to finally have a home.
The LOI is going through the mill lately and it needs a boost, this could be it.
It would be brilliant to have a decent ground in Limerick, it's an area that has a large catchment area for fans but no real facilities. I think the FAI's strategic development plan sees Limerick as a future corner of Irish football.
The game needs to move from the nucleus of Dublin (6 clubs out of 20) but the problem is the countries population centres. 4M in Ireland, 2M in Dublin.
For the league to prosper Cork, Limerick, Galway, Drogheda all need viable teams.
I still think that one league of 20 would be a better option. Go with the Dutch set up, and even take relegation away if the needs are so.
Take the fear factor away. And encourage teams tp play football rather than chug the ball from one end of the pitch to another.
from about 1 month ago
I don't think people realise the history that is there in League of Ireland soccer and then the bad decisions that seemed to ruin things.
I'm thinking of Limerick vs Real Madrid in the European Cup of 1980 a story I've heard many times. They moved the game to Lansdowne road and only got 6,000 fans. People say if they had played them in Limerick they would of beaten them, the game ended 2-1. Or you had Athlone Town drawing 0-0 with AC Milan, Shelbourne 45mins away from qualifying for the Champions League when they played Deportivo a few years back.
The football is pretty awful though in general, pretty much kick and rush as you say. Out of the places you mentioned Cork and Drogheda should have viable teams already but seem to have overspent, Limerick is going in the right direction and Galway stay up for another year.
Do you think all the clubs returning to the amateur status would help for the time being?
from about 1 month ago
I don't know Mary. I don't think anyone has the answer.
Some teams try to play. Derry and Cork always have footballing sides. Bohs, Pats and Shels try to play more often than not.
My own feeling on the league is that 10 teams is too small.
There is such a huge fear of being relegated, and any team can go down if they have a really bad run.
Hence playing the percentages, with big physical long ball teams.
A little bit of over-simplifing it I know but there's a lot to be said for a 20 team league.
Drogheda, Cork, Galway, Sligo, Shels, have all gone back to amateur status.
Pats, Bohs and Derry aren't far behind.
Thing about amateurs is they up to four nights a week, for as little or nothing at all.
from about 1 month ago
That's true... It seems that some of the players are looking at trying to get moves to the lesser teams in the SPL and the lower leagues of England which could mean trouble. I wonder are the players contracts null and void if they are not getting paid the money owed.
from about 1 month ago
yep they are. (contracts)
75% of players in the LOI are out of contract when the season ends. That's a lot of players looking for clubs.
The standard of the league has improved immensely over the recent past, and with it English and Scottish teams have been quick to exploit the poor contracts and the poor conditions the players endure.
Certain teams are Championship standard while others are League 1 & 2 standard, the grounds are almost all less than non-league though.
about 1 month ago
I love hearing of fans buying their club. I go to watch Brentford occasionally who did a similair thing. I'd love to see Manchester United have done it but clubs like that are just way out of reach from the fans I'm afraid. Great article Willie!
from about 1 month ago
Thanks Anthony,
It only takes 510 fans at £50 a week to provide some of the finances to run Rovers.
Imagine how many fans you'd need for a club like United. I couldn't count that high!!
Thanks for the potd mate.
about 1 month ago
Great article, very well wrtten and your passion shows thru, a great idea for an article.
from about 1 month ago
Thanks a lot Jamie.
Unfortunetly for Liverpool fans I think the Rovers concept of £50 a week per fan wouldn't be practical but it shows that it is possible.
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