Flooding deals cruel blow to Shelbourne
Last week’s flooding represented one of the biggest blows in Shelbourne’s 107-year history.
When the nearby Tolka river swamped Richmond Road late on Thursday night, it submerged the pitch under several feet of water.
A quarter of the playing surface was still under water yesterday, four days after the disaster struck.
“Basically, we are out of commission,” chairman Finbarr Flood declared yesterday. “I think you are looking at damages and a claim of 750,000 to 1m.”
Club officials met the Football Association of Ireland to consider the options for one of the country’s oldest clubs. Two big lorries are continuing to pump out sludge from the premises.
Chief official Ollie Byrne said: “There’s no chance of being able to play at Tolka Park for at least three to four weeks - and if we are able to play then, it may be that we might have to play on Sunday afternoons.”
While generators pumped out sludge from the devastated premises - including the new stand - teams of club supporters joined officials in a major weekend clean up.
“The flood water has been up about eight feet on the ground and in the bars and in the boardroom,” Mr Flood said.
“The floodlighting is gone, needless to say, because the waters got into it. The floorboards have lifted in all the rooms - the bars, the boardroom. The wooden floors just buckled. All the internal furnishings are destroyed.”
Some club memorabilia was also hit by the floods.
“We’re still trying to do an audit on what has been damaged,” said the club chairman.
“Some of the pictures on the walls, of old events and old teams and the like...some of the water came up and just covered them. But they may dry out.”
Mr Flood paid tribute to the club supporters: “They were working in dreadful conditions, freezing cold, trying to do a job on it. It’s a mammoth task. It’s only when you go down to the pitch that you realise what happened.”
Despite the heartbreak at seeing his club grounds devastated, Mr Flood acknowledged the anguish of the people along Richmond Road, across from the pitch. “We’re bad, but you look at the houses opposite who have the same problem - all their destroyed furniture out in their gardens,” he said. “It’s tragic for everybody down around there.”
Shelbourne’s game against Derry City will be re-fixed for a future date. The club hopes to swap next Friday’s match against Bray Wanderers and play it at the Carlisle Grounds.
