QuoteExcellent stuff.
Shamrock Rovers Press Release
Shamrock Rovers and the Tallaght Community Stadium
Press Release Issued : 27 Mar 2007
Shamrock Rovers is refuting recent unfounded and unjustifibale comments in the press relating to the club and the Tallaght Community Stadium.
"There has been some blatantly untrue and derogatory remarks made about the club and in relation to the Tallaght stadium," says Shamrock Rovers' chairman, Jonathan Roche.
"Either there are serious misconceptions out there about our club, or else this is part of a deliberate attempt to portray the club in a bad light at this particular time.
"Shamrock Rovers is a community-based, not-for profit club that is owned and run by its members. In that respect it's much like a GAA club, but we offer even more to the community.
"At a time when there are major concerns about childhood obesity, we have a voluntary Schoolboy section that caters for hundreds of children from the age of seven and up.
"Tie that in with our various Scholarship Schemes that cover all strands of education, and it's clear that we're making a very positive contribution to the community.
"On top of that, the club's professional section offers a career curve for young footballers, who can aspire to earning a living from football without having to leave home.
"Shamrock Rovers offers a broad and comprehensive range of opportunities in sport, education and employment to the youth of South Dublin and beyond. It is quite unique."
It was also implied that Shamrock Rovers was incapable of running its own business affairs properly - something the Hoops’ Financial Director, John Lyons is eager to disprove.
"Since the fans took over the club in 2005, Shamrock Rovers has been run on sound business principles," he explains. "We pay our wages and taxes in full and on time, and even turned a profit last year.
"As we're a not-for-profit members' club, that profit stayed within the club and has contributed to our on-going development as a community-based football club."
Shamrock Rovers also feels that there is no valid justification for making the playing surface of the Tallaght stadium big enough to facilitate senior gaelic games.
'Local GAA clubs in the Tallaght/South Dublin area are already well catered for and have excellent facilities of their own - and good luck to them," says General Manager Noel Byrne.
"Both the South Dublin County Council and the government want the stadium completed as it was intended from the outset: as a football ground. We fully support them."
Club Marketing Director Mark Lynch insists that the recent Republic of Ireland internationals at Croke Park showed how impractical it would be to make a football stadium large enough to accommodate gaelic games.
"The football pitch looked lost on such a massive surface," he says. "And while the GAA's willingness to temporarily open Croke Park is to be applauded, Tallaght is a completely separate issue.
"The structural aspect of the stadium would be fundamentally compromised in order to facilitate senior gaelic games. That is obvious from one glance at the recent Ireland-Wales international in Croke Park.
"Shamrock Rovers is pro-GAA, many of our members are also Dubs' fans and GAA club members, but we fail to see how either football or gaelic games would benefit from butchering this facility.
“Given that the stadium’s primary purpose has always been to facilitate football, it makes no sense to complete it in a way that would seriously detract from that aim.”
Appendix: Reality and Rovers
Since its takeover by its supporters in 2005, Shamrock Rovers has made a positive contribution to sport, community activity and education, while also running its financial affairs in a professional and responsible manner.
Shamrock Rovers is not 'a commercial enterprise'
Shamrock Rovers is a members-owned and run, community-based football club that operates on a not-for-profit basis.
As well as promoting sporting participation through its Schoolboy section, which caters for around 250 young players, it also encourages education through its various scholarship schemes.
Through its professional Eircom League of Ireland section, the club also creates employment for upwards of 30 people and generates income tax revenue that goes directly to the State. Shamrock Rovers is fully tax-compliant and a model employer.
Once the first team joins the rest of the club in Tallaght, Shamrock Rovers would envisage a considerable increase in its employment opportunities, making a further positive contribution to the community.
Shamrock Rovers’ Financial Commitment
As well as providing voluntary sporting and educational opportunities, Shamrock Rovers also contributes a considerable amount of its income to the national coffers. Since the club was acquired by its supporters in 2005 it has operated on sound financial principles and meets its tax requirements on a monthly basis.
The club's recent tax history is as follows:
- During 2006 €102,423.09 was paid in tax by Shamrock Rovers
- In 2005, post date of the club's examinership, the total was €175,153.06
- This year's tax total is expected to reach €193,595
- We would envisage, with more staff on our pay roll in Tallaght, a tax payment of around €1.5m over the next five years
Voluntary Work in the Community
No sport has a monopoly on volunteerism. Shamrock Rovers has over 100 volunteers contributing at all levels within the club, as well as promoting sporting activity amongst the young population of South Dublin and further afield.
Educational Opportunities
As part of its community-based ethos, Shamrock Rovers operates Scholarships covering all levels of education. In conjunction with IT Tallaght, the club offers third level education to players, and has more recently introduced a scholarship scheme that facilitates primary school students through the Junior Certificate cycle.
Best of Both Worlds
Given the club's commitment to professional football, its voluntary work in the Schoolboy football, and the club's various educational initiatives, Shamrock Rovers offers a unique and unrivalled blend of sporting and educational opportunities for the young population of South Dublin and beyond.
Dallas Cup
Through the efforts of club volunteers, a sum of €46,000 was raised to bring the Shamrock Rovers Under-19 team to the USA next month to participate in the prestigious Dallas Cup tournament. Not only will this provide players with the opportunity to compete against some of the world's greatest football clubs, it also offers them the experience of a lifetime.
Tallaght Stadium
From the beginning, the SDCC was committed to a football-sized stadium in Tallaght. When it was proposed to extend the playing surface to accommodate gaelic games it was with the proviso that this would not further delay the project.
When the Minister for Sport pointed out that the government’s financial commitment was for a football-sized stadium, this was immediately accepted by the SDCC’s elected representatives, who agreed to progress the project as it was originally intended: as a football stadium.
While the stadium may be built to its original, football-sized specification, it does not prohibit all other sports, and would easily accommodate, for example, hockey and under-age gaelic games.
As could be seen from the recent Republic of Ireland-Wales international at Croke Park, a football pitch is considerably dwarfed on a full-size GAA surface.
ENDS
Excellent stuff.
Together with all our hearts.
You would have to admire the setup rovers have.
The GAA are doing this out of pure begrudgery...
Good piece, but its probably a week too late given Humphries drivel in the IT (and other pro-GAA pieces elsewhere).
Presumably the fact the case is still sub judice keeps Rovers from really telling people the way it is?
Fingers crossed Td's get what they deserve (a large legal bill).
It's partly a reaction to that drivel. Something had to be released to counter the all-out campaign against Rovers that the GAA hacks are currently mounting.Originally Posted by OneRedArmy
Really hope Rovers come through on this one.
The GAA really do have some cheek, what basis are they saying that they are entitled to use the ground. Hopefully they will be told where to go very shortly
Great press release. Gives the facts. Let Humphries etc refute those.
Rovers should demand right of reply to Humphries piece (I think this release is refuting a lot of the points made in it) and request that the release be published in full by the IT next to Humphries next article.
The Tribune also has a "My 2 Cents" column which allows people to comment on recent sporting contoversies that they are involved in. Rovers should see if they can get on soon to get their point across.
I'm what? I'm ants at a picnic?
From the Irish Times letters page - 28.03.07
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FAIR PLAY FOR SHAMROCK ROVERS
Madam, - We were quite dismayed by the tone of Tom Humphries's remarks on Shamrock Rovers and the stalled Tallaght stadium development (Locker Room, March 19th).
While complimenting the voluntary community efforts of others, he described Rovers as "a professional soccer club, a commercial enterprise", completely ignoring the fact that it is a not-for-profit, community-based football club owned and run by its members.
While our first team is professional, the rest of the club is almost exclusively run by volunteers, and our schoolboy section caters for hundreds of youngsters across South Dublin. Shamrock Rovers has also established a range of scholarship schemes offering educational opportunities to students at primary, secondary and third level.
Shamrock Rovers is a model employer and taxpayer. Since its supporters took over in 2005, the club has been run on sound business principles and by the end of this season will have contributed around €500,000 to the national coffers. We even turned a small profit last year which was, as a matter of course, reinvested in the club.
Mr Humphries writes that "nobody feels Rovers have given enough to the community to merit the amount of State aid being allocated" for Tallaght. Considering that our club's package of sporting, educational and employment opportunities are unique, not just in South Dublin but in Irish sport, we would beg to differ. And not just in word but in deed. - Yours, etc,
MARK LYNCH, (On behalf of Shamrock Rovers FC board of directors), Centrepoint Business Park, Dublin 12.
Ireland: Discovered!
When we talk about media bias towards the GAA, Humphries is a great example of what we are up against. Leaving aside the guff he wrote the other week on Tallaght, he mainly writes his "flagship column" on the subject of Dublin hurling, whose participation is infinitely less than soccer in any area of the county and whose senior team play in front of crowds smaller than those of the larger EL clubs.
I've no problem with Humphries (or anyone else) acting as a cheerleader for hurling (or any other sport), but when it turns into an anti-SRFC barrage of make-believe, innuendo and snide remarks, that's another matter.
Excellent press release. Sticks to the facts and refutes alot of the pro TD drivel written in the press lately.
I live in Old Bawn and my 6 year old daughter brought home a slip of paper from school on Monday encouraging families to bring their little ones up to St Annes GAA club to play camogy and hurling. I sent it back to them telling them that I would have been quite happy for her to join a couple of years ago and would have encouraged her but that now given TD's stance on SRFC she won't be going near the place or any other GAA club and I will be encouraging my nieghbours to do the same.
"I'd rather play in front of a full house than an empty crowd" Johnny Giles
Good press release - nice to see them sticking to the facts.
Shows just how good the Rovers set-up is these days.
I must say that I find it ironic to the point of surreal that the Tallaght GAA clubs would accuse SRFC of somehow being blow-ins. For 2 years I lived in Raheen and it always struck me just how un-Tallaght the GAA clubhouses there actually were, having been in some of them a few times. There were almost no Dublin accents to be heard the times I went as a guest. My host informed me that the Tallaght GAA clubs are made up mostly of public servants who work as nurses, Gardai and civil servants in Tallaght and who have almost no interaction with the native population of Tallaght on a social level.
At weekends they all return "home" to Mayo, Kerry and Donegal. A couple of people I spoke to from Spingfield told me that anyone in these places with a working class Dublin accent is made feel like an outsider and unwelcome. One said to me "the place is filled with a load of snotty nose farmers sons and daughters who consider people from Tallaght to be all skangers."
I suspect a lot of what is happening in Tallaght with Rovers is rooted in the 'Gaelic Rural Chosen People' mindset which developed under Dev and is still very much a part of the GAA to this day.
Another issue is that the GAA in Tallaght is about 10% actually people involved in sport and the other 90% of the members expressing the love "native games" by sitting at the bar cheering on Liverpool and Man United on the TV.
There is little or nothing "Tallaght" about the GAA out there - it's just were their clubhouses and pitches happen to be located. SRFC is already more "Tallaght" than all of them put together.
And that's (presumably) from a Bohs' fan. Respect.
I am a Bohs supporter and I will always consider the Shamrock Rovers supporter to be an eternal resident of Darwin's Waiting Room. It is my evolutionary duty to look down on them.
However, the GAA in Tallaght carry-on is just plain sick, evil and opens a window into a psychological landscape within the GAA which should make every objective Irish person shun and stand-up against.
I used to be a Dubs supporters as well, but watching how the GAA is behaving with the Tallaght issue, I never want to be associated with anything GAA again.
Everyone in Tallaght I know feels the same way about the Tallaght Stadium issue - they cannot wait for Rovers to arrive (even ones who do not follow LOI are looking forward to it). This again highlights how, in actual day-to-day reality, the Tallaght GAA "community" are completely alien and self-ghettoised from the majority population of that town. They have brought their rural parish mentality with them from Kerry, Mayo and Donegal to Tallaght and have thus declared themselves spokespersons and sporting representatives of a community most of them do not want anything to do with. I am amazed more journalists have not made an issue about just how "Tallaght" the GAA out there actually are.
There is also a certain underhanded angle being played here which basically revolves around "we let you lads use Croker, so we have a right now to wreck Shamrock Rovers, you feckin owe us!"
These people would give Pol Pot a run for his money.
Last edited by Boh_So_Good; 29/03/2007 at 12:00 AM.
as a resident of Tallght all my life I couldn't agree more. This is a very very very valid point.
Why are there 6 GAA clubs in Tallaght(at least), why so many - because we have that many of our culchie cousins living here and they see the GAA club as a safe haven from the "tallaght knacker". Is this also why all those clubs are so completely useless in competition, they all have tie ups with local schools aso they all get young heads through and compete at junior level, but they all fail miserably to compete at adult level - I suppose the commute for bacon and cabbage every weekend ruins turn out. those that stick around can always be witnessed ona saturday night or Sunday afternoon festooned in best liverpool shirt screaming abuse at Match of the Day or Sky with pint of bulmers (with ice) in hand
then again someones gotta preserve culture
If the Rovers fans really want to do something for their club on this issue then they should be leading a counter-propaganda campaign within Tallaght. They should be printing up thousands of flyers explaining to ordinary people in the estates of Springfield, Old Bawn, Tymon North and do on that Rovers are more representative of their culture than a handful of farmers sons and daughters working in the civil service.
Hold a protest in the Square. Get the truth out there - scare the hell out of local politicians and make them look anti-Tallaght if they do not support Rovers.
It would be be easy with a bit of clever (but mass) PR to expose the Tallaght GAA for what THEY really are. Stand up and fight fire with fire. You'll be the ones telling the truth at the end of the day. There is an election coming.
It irks me that the likes of TH will be there every two years, lapping up the expenses-paid trips to the Euro or World Cup, then come home and go on about how it's not a patch on the GAA.
His stuff has gone badly downhill in the last couple of years anyway - it's basically Tom Humphries writing about being Tom Humphries most of the time.
"Even if the wind stops to blow
Even if the sea ceases to flow
Even if the sun ceases to rise
The name of Sligo Rovers will shine and shine forever like the morning star glittering in the sky."
How's the weather there in the 1950s? Rob-a-job farmers' sons in the civil service? Sweet divine. Somebody has Dublin-lineage issues, I'd say; a true Dub would never be so insecure about our bucolic cousins.
But yeah, you're right: those ordinary (do you mean "working-class"?) people on them ordinary ("working-class"?) estates should know their place. But if not, of course it should be "explained" to them, the ordinary sods. They should be intimidated and cautioned to engage solely with their own pre-determined and God-given ordinary ("working-class"?) culture. (If He wanted them to play Gah they'd have been born down the country somewhere.)
Do you propose that this exciting new campaign be begun only in Rovers' proposed new catchment area or should the FAI in general not think about a little "Ban" of its own? Will we send ... hmmm ... Protestant clergy out to Finbarr's or Na Fianna taking names and vet the turnstiles at Dalymount?
Anti-GAA feelings are understandably high amongst Rovers fans out West, but why should anybody else be forced to choose between the GAA and "Rovers", for feck's sake? (Apart from it being their station in life, possibly unbeknownst to them, to be a "soccer" person.) Rise-a-row.
I was worried that it might be a bit of a rant. Good work from Shams there.
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