Dublin City FC
You could almost say this club is part of a trilogy, but in true Forgotten Clubs style we are going to start from the end. Does that make sense? No? Well, keep up. This club is the last in line of three clubs who have all come and gone in the League of Ireland. And no, it’s not a Cork club, but instead it is a club that comes from the capital. In fact, it has the capitals counties name in it. A bit of a nomad club, to never have a home of its own, to having high profile managers this club even managed a promotion in its short time in the League of Ireland. If you haven’t guessed it already, this club is Dublin City. Let’s see what this fair old club offered us during its time in our league.
Dublin City FC was formed in after splitting from league of Ireland club Home Farm Everton (Another club we will be covering). The club originally adopted the name Home Farm Fingal, a ploy to attract a fan base from the northside of the city but their name was soon changed in 2001 to Dublin City FC. The clubs crest was nearly identical to that of the Dublin GAA team with the three castles surrounded by two footballs. Although the club never gathered a huge fan base, those that did follow them gave the club the nickname The Vikings, while others called them, just like the GAA team ‘The Dubs’. The club themselves never had a home to call their own in their 5 year stay in the League of Ireland and played at five different stadia, Tolka Park, Dalymount Park, Morton Stadium, Richmond Park and Whitehall Stadium. The club wore the colours blue and white, again similar to that of the GAA team. In 1999 Home Farm Fingal CEO, Ronan Seery took over the club and that is when the name change came about. The club tried it’s best to sell itself to football fans in North Dublin, namely the Fingal area, opening up shops near the Airport and even in the City Centre, with the help of its shirt sponsors, Carrolls, but as we will find out this didn’t help the cause.
But it defiantly wasn’t lack of success that brought the club to its knees. In fact, in its short history the club managed to secure two promotions to the League of Ireland Premier Division. The first coming in 2003 when the club won the First Division title, beating Bray Wanderers by 3 points. That year their record was 19 wins, 10 draws and only 4 loses. That year saw the club involved in a bit of controversy, with Monaghan United being deducted 3 points for fielding an ineligible player against ‘The Dubs’. Dublin City had still won that match 2-0.
But the next season proved to be too much for the club and they were relegated straight away, coming 10th out of 10 finishing on 25 points, winning just 6 , drawing 7 and losing 23 games. Yet again, the club bounced back and gained promotion a year later, this time via the play-off route after being narrowly pipped to the first division title by Sligo Rovers by two points. November 2005 saw the club beat Shamrock Rovers 2-1 in the away leg at Dalymount park with goals from Lynch and David McGill proving decisive. The home game three days later ended up 1-1 at Tolka Park and saw the Vikings promoted once again.
That 2006 season proved o be one of the more eventful seasons in League of Ireland history, but mainly due to off-field issues. Shelbourne FC, who won the league were relegated due to financial difficulties, Bohemians were deducted 3 points after fielding a suspended Jason McGuiness in one of their games and Waterford United were to remain in the League of Ireland Premier Division despite being beaten in the play-offs by Dundalk, who were deemed not to have met the criteria set out but the FAI’s Independent Assessment Group and therefore were denied promotion. But it also saw the end of the road for Dublin City FC who pulled out of the league on the 19th July 2006, with chairman Ronan Seery citing financial difficulties as the reason. The club’s results during that season were expunged from the record. Seery released a statement at the time reading,
‘Due to ongoing difficulties our continued existence within the Eircom League simply became untenable and while extremely difficult to make, it is the most prudent and honourable decision and course of action to take.’
The decision was heavily criticised by others in the league at the time, most notably the then Cork City manager Damien Richardson. In an interview with the Irish Daily Mirror he said,
“I don’t know the circumstances, but I don’t think you ever give up. You enter football knowing you are entering a competition and a league – and to walk out half-ay is against al the principles of football, all the principles of sport. Once you enter into an agreement in sport, you stay the course. And if you have to use yourself and your grandmother, you do it.”
The club had high profile managers such as Dermot Keely, who was the clubs manager at the time when they dissolved and also Roddy Collins, who managed the club from July 2004 to November 2004, leaving three weeks before the end of the season to take over at Shamrock Rovers.
Dublin City fan Breifne Earley gave me an insight as to what it was like to support the North Dub lin club in its short existence. He told me that he got involved with the club 16 or 17 years ago through one of his coaches at DCU, Alan Maxi McCann who was recruiting for Dublin City at the time. It also down to another familiar name in Johnny Ward, who was head of the League of Irelands Supporters group in the college at the time, where they were offering a two for one deal to get people to go to the games, As faith would have it the two games that Dublin City would playing in were against Monaghan United, the team Breifne’s then girlfriend supported and Sligo Rovers, a club Breifne knew all too well, growing up in Sligo. This was his first taste of going to Dublin City games, not missing a home game in 2002/2003 season.
His favourite away day was a difficult one to pick out and he gave a few examples of what a good away for a Dublin Coty fan was back then.
‘Relegating Rovers in the play-off, that happened in Dalymount, David McGill scored a cracker of a goal to relegate Rovers and then went and joined them the following year…. We beat Bohs 2-1 in Dalymount, totally against expectations in hat 2005 season. But for me the best away day I had, purely for the number of people we had for that day, I think we had a bus load down in Athlone, in the old St Mells Park in that 2003 season, and it was te day I think we guaranteed ourselves a play-off…. Funnily enough I look at back at that table and Dundalk finished 10th that year. 19 teams were better then them and no look where they are…Anything is possible in the League!’.
So many options were available to Breifne for his favourite ever player to play for Dublin City and he mentions a few League of Ireland legends here and why.
‘The honourable mentions would go to a Bohemians legend who joined us late in his career for a season of two, Tony O’ Connor, one of the best right backs I have ever seen play…..and a nice uy off the pitch as well. …Thomas McAuley had a role to play in that season (2005) and he was such a colossus at the back, I loved Keith Foy, he was such a dead ball specialist.’
But his all-time favourite player to play at club goes to somebody that is truly deserving of it. A player, who many have huge respect for after what he went through off the field.
‘My favourite player of all time to play for the club would absolutely have to be Gary O’Neil, how you can get nominated for the PFAI player of the year, not just the team of the year, but the player of the year with a team that barely scored double figures, I think he scored every goal for us in that first division. He was one of our heroes….’
Breifne’s favourite moment was again that moment David McGill scored the goal against Shamrock Rovers in Dalymount but not because it was against Rovers but more so the fact it was one of a few highs the small group of Dublin City fans got to share together in their short existence,
Still a big League of Ireland football fan Breifne follows Sligo Rovers, after moving back to the west, but also goes to Longford Town games as well. In fact he said he saw every league of Ireland club play at least once last season.
In sustaining a club in North Dublin ,an area which as tried and failed many times throughout League of Ireland history, Breifne believes a real long term plans needs to be put in place if it is to be tried again and to prevent the same ting happening to the likes of Dublin City in the future.
‘If clubs spent a decade, really pushing bums on seats, trying to grow numbers, you have to look at what Bohemians are doing at the moment….yes, its in a small restricted stadium and its easy to sell out 2 or 2 and half thousand seats and its easier to sell 8 thousand in Tallaght or 5 thousand in Sligo….but I think if you only focus on creating a really entertaining night, ….really focus on creating a alternative to the pub, The Late Late (Show), to a nightclub, to the cinema, to a gig and make people want to come, give proper food, proper facilities, give a programme or merchandise and most clubs are getting there but I think most clubs would be a success anywhere if they do that.’
A special mention to a lot of people in regarding their contribution to Dublin City. But one man gets the biggest mention of all.
‘I think if your going to name names when it comes Dublin City there really is only one name that you could talk about and that is Ronan Seery, Rocky as we would have called him. He was small in stature but boy was he big in ideas. I suppose he had a lot of really good ideas, but it just never quite clicked for him. Again, talking about those clubs not really having those strategic plans I think he might have been a bit guilty at times of not looking at the bigger picture and not getting his head of the debt that began to pile up and pile up and ultimately that was the downfall of the club in 2006….his heart was in the right place, unfortunately it didn’t work out. It took over his life and it took his health…I think the decision to disband the club wasn’t taken lightly but was properly the right decision at the time.’
The interview with Breifne was one of the most in-depth ones I have had with a fan of one of these ‘Forgotten Club’ and one that will defiantly be featured on our Forgotten Clubs For The Podcast in the future. But for now all I can say is Dublin City FC was a project that is all too familiar around these parts of North Dublin, and they weren’t the last club to fall by the wayside here either as we will see in other clubs we will be covering from these parts of the country. The were a small club, one that never really got to settle, literally, as they never had a place they could call home, playing at various other League of Ireland grounds. Despite a clever marketing plan using Carrolls, they were unable to catch the imagination of the locals Would they be a welcome edition back to the League of Ireland? In my view if they and a few other clubs that have disappeared came back with a real plan, a long term one, like Breifne alluded to then their could be a hope that County Dublin or the Fingal area could see a League of Ireland club play here. But for the foreseeable future it doesn’t look like it will happen. But you never know. One thing is for sure, thanks to Carrolls and their rach in the tourism industry, out their in mainland Europe, there are a few Dublin City jerseys still being worn. The images of a middle aged Italian wearing a Dublin City FC Jersey boggles the mind, but its a nice thought to have.