Putting football supporters first

We’re all familiar with the image: disgruntled supporters massed on the pitch, chanting ‘Sack the board’. But what happens when the fans become the board?

FORAS (Friends Of The Rebel Army Society), the Supporters’ Trust which owns Cork City, was set up in 2008 with admirable intentions of developing ways in which to assist the football club, such as fundraising with a view to building a training facility which could then be leased to the club for nominal rent.

But the spiralling financial turmoil which brought City to the brink of extinction within two short years resulted in FORAS having to step in to save the day in 2010 and, in doing so, the supporters found they were now the owners of the club they loved — a responsibility as daunting as it was entirely unfamiliar.