Keep Rovers Alive campaign gets kiss of life

BACK in 1987, when Glenmalure Park was standing in the shadow of the wrecking ball, supporters of Shamrock Rovers organised a campaign to try and save the famous ground. They called it KRAM - Keep Rovers At Milltown.

Eighteen years on, Hoops fans are fighting another battle on behalf of their beloved club. The urgency of this one could best be summed up by the acronym KRA - Keep Rovers Alive. Anyone with even a passing interest in Irish football can only hope that they are more successful this time around.

The 400 Club, the fans’ group which is bankrolling the embattled club, held an upbeat press conference in Dublin during the week, at which they announced plans to boost attendances for games at Rovers’ current home, Dalymount Park and other fund-raising initiatives.

All of which was doubtless music to the ears of the faithful - but the more hard-headed might have concluded that all they were hearing was the sound of the dance band on the Titanic. After all, here is a football club which is currently under Examinership, has no home, is crippled by debts of nearly €2.5m and faces the threat of expulsion from the league. If this was any other business, it would have gone to the wall ages ago. But this isn’t any other business - it’s a football club. And it’s not just any football club - it’s Shamrock Rovers, still the most famous name in the domestic game. Manager Roddy Collins got to the heart of the matter, saying: “This is not just a club - it’s an institution.”

Of course, you could almost hear the cynical rejoinder: “yeah, a mental institution.” But cynicism has no place in the hearts of committed football fans.

Personally, I’m lost in admiration for the 400 Club. But then, as they say in the all the best detective series, I guess I’m emotionally involved. Or at least, I used to be. Coming of age, football-wise, in the late sixties, I didn’t need to hitch my wagon to any side across the water. The six-in-a-row Rovers team of Leech, O’Neill and the rest, playing in front of full houses at Milltown, held more than enough glamour for me. Bear in mind that this was a time when the domestic game was sufficiently high-profile that you could even buy Drumcondra in Subbuteo form. I know, because I had them, if only to provide regular Dublin derby cannon fodder for my miniature Hoops.

But the growing popularity of ITV’s Big Match on Sunday afternoon signalled a sea-change in the fortunes of the League of Ireland. As the crowds dwindled, I continued going to Milltown throughout the seventies, when often enough there was little to cheer Hoops supporters apart from some cracking goals by Donal Murphy (who later went to Coventry City) and speedy wing play by a bloke called Tony Ward (whatever happened to him?).

By the time Rovers were putting together their four-in-a-row run of league titles in the 80s, I was already distracted by other temptations and, like so many others who’d once packed Glenmalure Park, had fallen into the category marked “lapsed.”

But it’s not just for reasons of guilt that I take my hat off to the 400 Club. Not only are these the ones who never lapsed - or alternatively, are following in the footsteps of those who went before - but they are also realistic and pragmatic about what the club needs to do to get itself out of its current bind. Yes, they love the Hoops with a passion, which only the true fan can understand - but they also recognise that some of the wounds have been self-inflicted and the club will have to be run as a proper business if it’s going to have any hope of surviving.

To that end, they could well be forced to bite another bullet this coming week if the FAI sanction Rovers for alleged irregularities in their club license application. There is a growing belief that if Rovers are found to be in breach of regulations by the independent Club Licensing First Instance Committee, they could be relegated (either now or at the end of the season) or else be docked so many points that it would virtually amount to the same thing.

Bearing in mind that the FAI are simultaneously working closely with Neil Hughes, the Examiner whose job it is to try and secure Rovers’ future, it’s unlikely that they would go so far as to expel them from the league. After all the club has been through, from the loss of Milltown onwards, the Association would hardly want to be seen to deal the final death blow, just as Rovers are desperately struggling to get up off their knees.

Nor would it be in the interests of any other club to see Rovers disappear from Irish football. If their admirable fans have anything to do with it, they won’t. Things may be about to get worse before they get better but if, by season’s end Rovers have their house in better order and are looking to a brighter future, we should look no further than the 400 Club when it comes to selecting the domestic game’s personalities of the year.