User:Albert.white/Shamrock Rovers F.C.

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For the "Shamrock Rovers XI" that played Brazil in 1973, see Shamrock Rovers XI vs Brazil

Shamrock Rovers
Full name	Shamrock Rovers Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Hoops and Rovers
Founded	1901
Ground	Tolka Park (Capacity 9,500)
Chairman	Jonathan Roche
Manager	Pat Scully
League	Eircom Premier Division
2006	First Division Champions
Home colours 　 Away colours

Shamrock Rovers Football Club (Irish: Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is a football club in Dublin that plays in the Football League of Ireland. They play in the Eircom Premier Division and are the most successful club in Irish Football. They have won the league title a record 15 times, including four times a row in the 1980's and the FAI cup a record 24 times, 6 times in a row also in the 1980's.

Shamrock Rovers were founded in 1901 (1899 according to some sources) in Ringsend, Dublin and currently are tenants of Tolka park where they play their come games. The club have been without a permanent home since 1897 when a former director sold the ground. Their future home ground is to be the Tallaght stadium, however a local GAA club are holding up construction of this stadium by taking high court action.

Contents 1 History 1.1 The Present 1.2 2007 Season 1.3 2006 Season 1.4 2005 Season 1.5 The early 2000's 1.6 The 1990's 2 Colours and badge 3 Stadium 3.1 Previous Home Stadia 3.2 Tallaght Stadium 4 Supporters 4.1 Supporters Clubs 4.2 Fanzines 5 Ownership 6 Other Teams 7 Community Outreach 8 Current squad 9 Noted players 9.1 Players of the Year 10 Noted managers 11 Achievements 12 Records 13 See also 14 External links 15 Notes 16 References

[edit] History

The club, founded in 1901(though some sources suggest the club was founded in 1899),originally hails from the inner Dublin suburb of Ringsend. From the early 1920s until 1987 they played at Glenmalure Park, Milltown and became Ireland's most successful club. Shamrock Rovers have won more FAI Cups (24) and leagues (15) than any other Irish club. For many years, Rovers were Ireland's most prestigious team. Famous achievements included the winning of six FAI Cups in a row in the 1960s and four consecutive league titles (including three "doubles") in the 1980s. In addition, they were also the first Irish club to play in the European Cup, playing Manchester United in 1958. Further, the Shamrock Rovers were one of the European club teams which spent the 1967 season in the United States founding the North American Soccer League, representing Boston as the Boston Rovers. Shamrock Rovers have also supplied more different players to the Republic of Ireland national football team (62 in all) than any other single club. Famous players to have played for the club include: Jimmy Dunne, Paddy Coad, Jackie Jameson, Frank O'Neill, John Giles, Mick Leech, Pat Dunne, Jim Beglin, Paddy Mulligan, Johnny Fullam, Mick Smyth, Liam O'Brien,and Eamon Dunphy. Irish Rugby international Tony Ward also played for the club for a period in the 1970s. Up until the 1970s, Shamrock Rovers were well supported, attracting over 20,000 people regularly to Glenmalure Park and up to 40,000 for Cup Finals and European matches at Dalymount Park. Ultimately a combination of poor results, competition from televised football and other attractions meant that by the 1980s the club's crowds averaged below 3,000. However, prior to a severe crisis that began in the late 1980s, Shamrock Rovers were still, to many, considered the most prestigious club in Irish football.

In 1987, the club's home ground was sold by the then owners, the Kilcoyne family. It was subsequently demolished and developed for housing. Supporters waged a long and acrimonious but futile campaign to save the ground. Home games were boycotted ultimately forcing out the Kilcoynes as owners. The club has been without a home from that time until the present. The most stable period since was while playing at the Royal Dublin Society's grounds in Ballsbridge between 1990 and 1996. During this time Rovers won a league trophy (in 1994) and attracted reasonable crowds. Since then the club have been trying to develop a stadium in Tallaght and have played their home matches at several venues all over the city including Tolka Park, Richmond Park and the athletics venue at Morton Stadium in Santry.

Shamrock Rovers experienced severe financial troubles during the 2005 season, due to overspending and an accumulation of massive debts and spent a period under Examinership (a form of financial administration). The supporters association, 'the 400 club', who had been bankrolling the club during the Examinership process assumed control of the club.

[edit] The Present

Today, Shamrock Rovers not only have a senior team and an Under 21 team operating in the eircom League but also an intermediate team, sixteen schoolboy teams, a senior ladies team and three schoolgirl teams. Shamrock Rovers Schoolboys have teams from u7s to u18s playing in the Dublin & District Schoolboys League and there are currently sixteen teams with a total of 208 players and these are looked after by 35 managers and coaches. With the exception of the senior team all these teams are based in Tallaght.

Shamrock Rovers are active participants of the Show Racism the Red Card Ireland initiative. This includes giving out 'Show Racism the Red Card' posters at some matches during the season.

Football is great for bringing people of all nationalities together. We need to encourage this in our everyday lives. We also need to recognise that talent comes from within regardless of race, colour or creed.^[1]

—Pat Scully, Pat Scully, Manager, Shamrock Rovers F.C.

[edit] 2007 Season

Shamrock Rovers were promoted to the premier division after the 2006 season. They will have Tolka Park as the venue for their home games for the 2007 season.

[edit] 2006 Season

Tolka Park was home to the Hoops for the 2006 season. The early matches saw Rovers start very brightly, first battling with Limerick FC, then Galway United and Dundalk for Division 1 supremacy. On Friday the 10th of November Rovers beat Finn Harps 4-0 in the penultimate match of the season to effectively win the First Division title. On Saturday 19th November the Hoops came from behind to get a 1-1 draw with Cobh Ramblers to secure the title. Rovers were presented with the 1st Division trophy after the match. The Rovers defence was the best in league history with only 13 goals conceded in 36 league games and 24 clean sheets kept. The 2006 Player of the Year is captain Aidan price and the Young Player of the Year was awarded to Ian Ryan.

Three points were deducted by the FAI from the team's League of Ireland standings on 16 August 2006 for fielding a suspended player illegally.

Shamrock Rovers' pursuit of a first FAI Cup since 1987 advanced to the semi final stage after a 2-0 victory over non-league Castlebar Celtic in May, then a 2-0 win over Bohemian F.C. at Dalymount Park in September 2006, facilitated by two goals from David Cassidy. The result (pursuant to a 1-1 draw in the initial fixture at Tolka Park on live TV) cost Gareth Farrelly his job as Bohemians player/manager. Rovers then won a quarter final tie away to fellow First Division club Athlone Town F.C. 2-1 with goals from Ger Rowe and Robbie Clarke again on live television.

Shamrock Rovers were eliminated by St. Patrick's Athletic at the semi-final stage, losing 2-0 at Tolka Park on Friday, 27th October 2006. During the half time break Rovers legend Derek Tracey was introduced to a thundering ovation from the Rovers crowd. The club's quest for a 25th FAI Cup now extends into a second decade.

[edit] 2005 Season

2005 goes down as one of the worst yet one of the best years in Shamrock Rovers history. The club had serious financial problems. Following a period of examinership during the summer months of 2005 the supporters group, the 400 Club, successfully bid for ownership of the club. Financial irregularities arising from this caused Rovers to be deducted 8 points in the league table. Roddy Collins was sacked towards the end of the 2005 season with 12 months remaining on his contract. Collins took this dismissal to Employment Appeals Tribunal and a settlement was reached with the former manager in 2006. Terry Eviston and Alan O'Neill took charge of the team for the remaining matches of the 2005 season.

The Hoops lost a two leg relegation play-off 3-2 against Dublin City F.C. and were relegated for the first time in the history.

[edit] The early 2000's

Home games for the new millennium were played in the Morton Stadium in Santry. Work began on the Tallaght Stadium in 2000 however as the building got stalled the Hoops would call Dalymount Park and Tolka Park home later in the decade.

The closest the hoops came to silverware in the early 2000's was the 2002 FAI cup final. Rovers lost 1-0 to Derry City.

[edit] The 1990's

From 1990 to 1996 Rovers played their home games in the RDS, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. This was the closest the Hoops had to a permanent home since the closure of Milltown. The highlight of the decade was the thrilling 1993/94 season which saw the Hoops win the league for the fifteenth time and for the first time since leaving Milltown. Stephen Geoghegan scored twenty-three league goals that season and came within four of equalling Bob Fullam's record set in 1926/27.

The club chairman John McNamara sold out his interest in 1996 to a new consortium who, within a few months, announced exciting plans to bring Rovers to a new stadium in Tallaght on Dublin's south side. The original plan was to have an all-seated stadium with a capacity of 10,000 but serious objections by a group of local residents held the project up for years and work only began in 2000.

[edit] Colours and badge

The club's colours are green and white hoops and they are known as The Hoops or Rovers. Shamrock Rovers originally played in green and white stripes. The green and white hooped jerseys were adopted after Belfast Celtic donated a set of their hooped jersies to Shamrock Rovers in the 1920s.

[edit] Stadium

Main article(s): Template Temple, Old Template Temple

Template FC plays their home matches on...

[edit] Previous Home Stadia

[edit] Tallaght Stadium

In the 1990's Shamrock Rovers were granted land in the Dublin suburb of Tallaght to build a new stadium. On Thursday the 30th of March 2000 An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern turned the sod at the site. However work on the stadium ceased in 2001 and in March 2005 South Dublin County Council announced that they were taking back the land that they had granted to the club, as the conditions of the planning permission had not been met. They plan now to complete the stadium and will run it as a municipal stadium with Shamrock Rovers as the preferred tenants. However, this has been challenged by some figures in the local Gaelic Athletic Association club, Thomas Davis who want the design of the stadium modified so that their games could be played there, in the event of it becoming a municipal facility.

These people have appealed the construction of a football-only stadium to the High Court arguing that 'the youth of Tallaght will be restricted to a diet of Association football' and that a soccer only ground would place the 'applicant at a severe disadvantage in attracting the youth of Tallaght to our club (Thomas Davis), our sport and the GAA culture^[2]'. However the stadium, with the existing design, can accommodate junior GAA games as the pitch used at this level fits within the stadium. It is only senior GAA games that would not be facilitated.^[3]

The Minister for Sport, Arts and Tourism has consistently supported the government decision to support the Stadium with soccer pitch dimensions^[4][5].

The GAA can’t be facilitated in the stadium – it is as simple as that. I don’t know why they are persisting with it. They are simply holding up Shamrock Rovers from moving in, that’s all that will come of any action. It can go to a hearing but there will be no climbdown by the Government. It is proposed to be the new home stadium for Shamrock Rovers and will have a capacity for 6,000 spectators. The stadium would need to be redesigned to accommodate Gaelic games. The GAA have their own site in Rathcoole and there are 24 acres there that are to be developed and I have said that I would help them with that but that’s not enough for them.

^[6]

—John O'Donoghue (politician), John O'Donoghue T.D., Minister for Sport, Arts and Tourism

On Thursday, 14 December 2006 the FAI pledged financial assistance for the Hoops’ High Court battle involving GAA club Thomas Davis.

We want to see Shamrock Rovers playing in the Tallaght Community Stadium – and as soon as possible. We have been working hard behind the scenes with the various stakeholders over the past two years to see Tallaght completed for soccer in the area. ^[7]

—John Delaney, FAI Chief Executive, John Delaney

The judicial review will begin on April 20th 2007.

The stadium construction has been stalled by this legal case brought by Thomas Davis for 13 months as of March 2007. This delay means that Shamrock Rovers will have been without a home ground for over 20 years.

[edit] Supporters

[edit] Supporters Clubs

Shamrock Rovers has several supporters clubs. Latest club details and events are published in Hoops Scene, the matchday programme and every Wednesday in the Evening Herald. It is not uncommon for fans to belong to several supporters clubs.

Alphabetical list of Supporters Clubs:

• Derek Tracey No.1 Crumlin Hoops Supporters Club

Formerly known as Crumlin Hoops SC who were founded in 1996, the club changed it's name at the 2006 Legends night in recognition of Derek Tracey who spent his entire career at Rovers. Based in Crumlin.

• Glenmalure No.1 Supporters Club

The Glenmalure No. 1 Supporters Club was founded in 1993.

• Hoops Supporters Club

The Hoops Supporters Clubs was founded in 1991. The club runs buses to all away games. http://www.hoops-sc.com/

• Pride of Dublin Supporters Club

The Pride of Dublin Supporters Club was founded in 1996 is based in Sandyford.

• Pride of Ringsend Supporters Club {Bród na Rinne}

The Pride Of Ringsend Supporters Club is the newest supporters club and was founded in early 2006 and is based in Ringsend, Rovers birthplace. The club HQ is The Hobblers End in Ringsend village. http://porsc.blogspot.com/

• SRFC Ultras

Rather than being an official supporters club, the Ultras are a group of supporters who aim to enhance matchdays by creating a carnival atmosphere.

• Tallaght Hoops Supporters Club

The Tallaght Hoops Supporters Club was founded in early 1999 and are based in Tallaght.

[edit] Fanzines

Over the years Shamrock Rovers fans have produced several fanzines. There is currently no fanzine, and the growth of on-line discussion forums has been blamed for this decline.

• Glenmalure Gazette (22 issues running from November 1988 to March 1991)
• Hooped on a Feeling - Published one issue in September 1996.
• Hoops Upside Your Head
• Some Ecstasy - published for three seasons from 1992/93 and 1994/95.

[edit] Ownership

[edit] Other Teams

[edit] Community Outreach

Shamrock Rovers are active participants of the Show Racism the Red Card Ireland initiative. This includes giving out 'Show Racism the Red Card' posters at some matches during the season.

Football is great for bringing people of all nationalities together. We need to encourage this in our everyday lives. We also need to recognise that talent comes from within regardless of race, colour or creed.^[8]

—Pat Scully, Pat Scully, Manager, Shamrock Rovers F.C.

[edit] Current squad

As of March 2007

No. Position Player GK Barry Murphy - June 8, 1985 (1985-06-08) (age 23) GK Stephen O'Brien 18.01.71 DF Aidan Price (Club Captain) 08.12.81 DF Ian Ryan 09.06.87 DF Ger O’Brien 02.07.84 DF Derek Pender 02.10.84 DF Danny O'Connor 28.09.80 DF Barry Ferguson 07.09.79 MF Tommy Barrett 20.05.79 MF Robbie Clarke 16.09.84 MF Jamie Duffy 20.11.83

No. Position Player MF Eric McGill 16.10.87 MF David McGill 24.10.81 MF Paul Shiels 19.04.80 MF David O'Connor 08.02.85 MF David Cassidy 23.05.85 MF Wayne Colbert 31.01.85 MF Stephen Maher 03.03.1988 FW Andrew Myler 02.12.75 FW Tadhg Purcell 02.09.85 FW Ger Rowe 03.08.84 FW Robbie Kelleher 14.02.84

Manager: Pat Scully

Coach: Mark Dempsey 10.12.72

U21 Manager: Dave Campbell 12.09.69

[edit] Noted players

[edit] Players of the Year

The Player of the year accolade is awarded each year by a poll of supporters.

Year	Player	Year	Player	Year	Player
1979/80	Robbie Gaffney	1980/81	Harry Kenny	1981/82	Liam Buckley
1982/83	Liam Buckley	1983/84	Alan Campbell	1984/85	Pat Byrne
1985/86	Mick Neville	1986/87	Jody Byrne	1987/88	Mick Byrne
1988/89	Jody Byrne	1989/90	Vinny Arkins	1990/91	Dave Connell
1991/92	Dave Connell	1992/93	Peter Eccles	1993/94	Alan Byrne
1994/95	Gino Brazil	1995/96	Alan O'Neill	1996/97	Tony Cousins
1997/98	Matt Britton	1998/99	Tony O'Dowd	1999/00	Terry Palmer
2000/01	Tony Grant	2001/02	Shane Robinson	2002/03	Noel Hunt
2003	Glen Fitzpatrick	2004	Trevor Molloy	2005	Barry Murphy
2006	Aidan Price

Listed according to when they debuted for Template FC (year in parentheses):

* 3310s-3320s: Tom Templateo (3321), Tommy Templatenius (3328)
* 3330s: Templaldo (3333)

[edit] Noted managers

Listed according to when they became managers for Template FC (year in parentheses):

* 3320s-3330s: Tom Template junior (3330)

[edit] Achievements

• League titles: 15
  • 1922-23, 1924-25, 1926-27, 1931-32, 1937-38, 1938-39, 1953-54, 1956-57, 1958-59, 1963-64, 1983-84, 1984-85, 1985-86, 1986-87, 1993-94

• First Division title: 1
  • 2006

• FAI Cups: 24
  • 1925, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1936, 1940, 1944, 1945, 1948, 1955, 1956, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1978, 1985, 1986, 1987

• League Cups: 1
  • 1976-77

• League of Ireland Shield: 18
  • 1924-25, 1926-27, 1931-32, 1932-33, 1934-35, 1937-38, 1941-42, 1949-50, 1951-52, 1954-55, 1955-56, 1956-57, 1957-58, 1962-63, 1963-64, 1964-65, 1965-66, 1967-68.

• Leinster Senior Cup: 16
  • 1923, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1933, 1938, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1964, 1969, 1982, 1985, 1997

Full list of Shamrock Rovers Honours.

[edit] Records

* League victory: 33-0 v Template City FC, 33 Thranuary 3333

[edit] See also

* Statistics of Template FC

[edit] External links

* Template FC - official site
* Template FC Fans - official supporter club site
* Template FC Ultras - ultras site

[edit] Notes

[edit] References