A a Cork person myself I feel I am entitled to offer an opinion on the madness that surrounded the demise of Cork City Football Club. Others have said of Cork that there is a strangeness about the place, as well as an annoying self regard. For me pride, like hope, is what makes us civilised and sets us apart from the herd.
Now, however, all hope is gone and one has to wonder how did it get to this sorry state? And where did it all go wrong?
Yes, we’ve been here before. Growing up in Cork I recall what are now regarded in hindsight as the glory days of soccer in the second city when Cork Hibernians and Cork Celtic played at The Lodge and The Cross and drew massive crowds.
Both clubs imploded in rancour and joined the long list of former League of Ireland clubs on Leeside including Cork Athletic, Cork Alberts, Evergreen and Fordsons.
But history and tradition doesn’t come easy and for twenty five years Cork City FC flew the flag and carried the torch for the generations that had gone before.
The brand, the badge, the pride, the belief…these are the intangibles that make up the package and if goodwill is given an entry on a balance sheet you’d have to wonder at the true cost of letting CCFC go out of business, of turning the dream into a nightmare.
Blame must be apportioned and any rational analysis would show owner Tom Coughlan up in a very poor light indeed. However Coughlan is not alone among the rogues gallery that have become associated with the debacle.
The Arkaga investment group, who previously owned and ran the club, very nearly ran it into the ground. Firing the manager Damien Richardson the night before the FAI Cup final was hardly the touch of class that people had a right to expect from a group that were all mouth and no trousers.
Barmy administration and player incentives were a hallmark of this regime and how they managed to convince anyone that they were fit for purpose remains a mystery. The same could be said of Mr Coughlan who talked the talk all right, but only wanted to walk, it seems, to the nearest High Court bringing himself and the game into disrepute with every stay of execution signalling a slow and lingering death.
The consortium who were recently brought together by the Quintas group to save the club can’t be too happy with the way events unfolded either.
Michael O’Connell. Peter Gray and the FORAS supporters group went right to the brink as the eleventh hour came and went and their insistence that they would only be interested in a takeover if a Premier Division licence was awarded by the independent Licensing committee didn’t show a rock solid commitment to maintaining Cork City FC come what may.
Whether they were given to believe that a Premier licence would be theirs or not is really not the point. You don’t enter the field of play only on the basis that you are going to win the match two nil; too many people acted out of self interest and with the attitude that it was their ball and nobody else could play. Tragic really.
The licensing committee did the right thing and coupled with the Derry City expulsion proves that the FAI are now prepared to grasp the nettle however sore the sting.
Recrimination, acrimony, and a war of words with Press Releases as bullets marked the shoddy end of the whole affair.
Good luck to FORAS as they embark on a journey of discovery, not just about the geography of the first division but of football administration. As a supporter its easy to criticise but now, so to speak, the boot is on the other foot.
Could Quintas, or Foras not have thought this through a bit more. Thought a bit more outside the box? Should the Munster F.A. who own Turners Cross and are key to all of this have had more of a role or a say. It’s loopy that the best stadium in the league will be underutilised now.
What about the Cork City Fathers? The politicians sat on their hands throughout the whole sorry mess and no one pointed out the work and success of Sporting Fingal in North County Dublin. Cork could and should have replicated the model. So much of what Fingal are looking for was already in place in Cork.
And, of course, another club who will be playing in the Premier Division next season is UCD, oft maligned as having great facilities and no fans.
Cork has a University too, rapidly taking over the western suburbs it seems. Public funding goes a long way to supporting the college. Could not a partnership, some form of strategic alliance have been formed to facilitate and educate talented part time players for the good of the country and the good of the league?
Tony O'Donoghue is soccer correspondent for RTÉ
