Football behind bars: How Bohemians are using sport to rehabilitate prisoners in Mountjoy

FAI Cup finalists Bohemians are using football to help rehabilitate prisoners in Mountjoy Prison, writes Ryan Clarke

CLOSE LINKS: Mountjoy is only a few hundred yards away from Dalymount Park. Picture: Courtpix

Towards the climax of a season, there is always a temptation to make grand pronouncements about the direction the game is heading in.

Quite often those pronouncements amount to little more than a fleeting trend.

What cannot be called a trend is a direction Bohemians and St Patrick’s Athletic have gone in; building strong, local fan bases through the work they do in their communities.

Both clubs will contest tomorrow’s FAI Cup final at the Aviva Stadium. For Bohemians, however, a group that they help in their community will have to watch the match on television.

They will be cheering on Bohs from their cells along the banks of the Royal Canal in Mountjoy Prison.

The link up between Mountjoy and Bohemians was an obvious one to make, according to the club’s community director, Thomas Hynes. He was approached by the prison’s deputy governor, Donnacha Walsh, about the possibility of starting a programme in the prison. Walsh had followed the community work Bohs had undertaken around Dublin’s northside, particularly when the club held a tournament for homeless people in 2003 with the help of then-manager Stephen Kenny.

“Mountjoy is only a few hundred yards away from Dalymount Park, it’s a part of the community here in Phibsborough,” said Hynes.

He cites his experience as a volunteer worker in the United States with opening his eyes to sport’s ability to complement more traditional social outreach programmes.

“A lot of the street kids I worked with in Los Angeles came from Central America and had about as much English as I had Spanish — very little. The only word that I knew they would understand was ‘football.’ And, of course, when we had a kickabout with them they all became less suspicious of these gringos that were trying to help,” Hynes explained.

The beauty of football is that it doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, you have to communicate with the guy beside you to help your team win.

It’s an informal way of getting people to talk to each other and work towards a shared goal, and before they even realise it they’re opening up and forming relationships with other prisoners they wouldn’t have in the cell block,” he said.

So when the initial call came from Walsh, Hynes knew the approach that would best work. He decided to link in with his close-friend Richie Sadlier, who coached and mentored many in Mountjoy’s Progression Unit. Over an eight-week period, Sadlier prepared a group to play a match against a team of Bohs players. That initial period turned into Sadlier volunteering each week for the following two years.

Bohemians players like Oscar Brennan, Scott Allardice, and club captain Keith Buckley took up the mantle after Sadlier. These coaching sessions still culminate with a game on the concrete exercise yard against a team of volunteers from Ballymun. The idea is that when inmates leave prison, they could join this team and have friends and a support network to help them reintegrate to life outside. The crowd for this match usually consists of other inmates along with pigeons and seagulls peering down from their perches on the netting and barbed wire. They play for the prize of the Conway Cup, a trophy that was donated by the Conway family who are synonymous with Bohemians for generations.

Bohemians captain Keith Buckley, right, has promised the squad will bring the trophy into Mountjoy if they win the FAI Cup. Picture: Inpho

“The buzz around the place in the run-up to the Conway Cup is really special,” said Walsh. “The lads have team meetings in the gym and you see them discussing which tactics they’re going to use, their set-piece routines, and their strongest line-ups.

“It’s great to see them get so invested and focus all their energy on something positive,” he added.

The Mountjoy programme began to show that it was working. Men who left prison joined the team in Ballymun on the condition they wouldn’t re-offend, and they haven’t.

In 2017, the team travelled to the Netherlands along with Walsh for a European tournament of ex-prisoners and won the overall title. Now, when the community team go back to Mountjoy for the Conway Cup, they are an example to others of how they can turn their lives around.

“For me, the real victory of that trip was that the former prisoners could travel, share meals, and discuss issues from their time in Mountjoy with the deputy governor man to man,” said Hynes.

However, all of this work was put on hold in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Walsh explained that the impact of the lockdown took a toll on the mental health of many prisoners, with outsiders not allowed into the prison’s bubble and little sign of that changing as the pandemic evolves.

Many prisoners often remark about being able to hear the roar of Dalymount from their cells on match nights. They know when Bohs have scored a goal before the television broadcast shows it. With Dalymount being empty, it further added to their sense of isolation.

The mood in Mountjoy has been downbeat since the pandemic, according to comedian Willa White.

White volunteers for Bohs in Mountjoy by helping to run comedy workshops with fellow comedian John Colleary for those that aren’t interested in sport. He jokingly refers to himself as a “past pupil” of Mountjoy.

“From my experience, it’s not a great place to be even when you have contact from your family. But without people like Bohs coming in, it makes everything that little bit more mundane and you know what they say: ‘The devil makes work for idle hands,’” he said.

White added that if prisoners lose structures like education and sport it makes rehabilitation an even tougher uphill battle.

“It all comes down to a choice; do you want to go backwards or forwards? The pandemic is just a temporary thing but the issues these lads are facing are permanent, the choice that they make now will define the progress they’ve made. I just know that the anticipation of Bohs coming back in will lift the mood in there,” said White.

This sentiment is also echoed by Walsh. There is not a day that goes by without an inmate asking him when Bohs will be back.

“Don’t get me wrong, the pandemic is tough for all of them but they’re showing tremendous resilience throughout. Any chance they get they’re out in the yard playing football because they want to be ready for the day Bohs are allowed back in,” said Walsh.

Breaking down barriers between the local community and people in custody is key in fighting the stigmas that lead to crime in the first place according to Dr Ian Marder, assistant professor of criminology in Maynooth University’s Department of Law.

“Civil society plays a huge role in supporting people in custody, as they seek to reintegrate back into society when approaching, or following their release. I’ve seen first-hand the work of Bohemians, having spent time in Mountjoy Prison when the players and volunteers play football and speak with people there. This work draws attention to the fact that people in prison are part of the community, and we won’t increase public safety if criminal justice perpetuates the exclusion,” said Dr Marder.

He wants the Government to build on the success of programmes like Bohemians’ to support better criminal justice outcomes because sport can act as a pathway to education for those who find traditional subjects challenging.

However, outside of the prisoners themselves, the biggest impact this programme has is on the Bohs players who freely volunteer their time to coach the inmates.

Striker Promise Omochere, 21, said that his experience was an eye-opener.

“A few lads in there had a chat with me and they just looked like normal people so it was a humbling experience and I realised how fortunate I am to be in the situation I’m in,” said Omochere

After being sidelined with injuries for the majority of the last two seasons, Omochere, who has played a big part in his team’s journey thus far, is poised to play an important role in tomorrow’s Cup final.

More importantly, he credits his decision to study law in Maynooth from his experience in Mountjoy.

“I’m just keeping my head down, focusing on college and my football. I want to give back to the community in any way that I can, winning on Sunday would be a great boost to everyone,” he said.

If Bohs were to win the FAI Cup for the first time since 2008, captain Keith Buckley has promised the squad will bring the trophy into Mountjoy to celebrate.

“It brings great joy and pride to my heart that Keith would think of the lads in here and want to share the celebrations with them too. This proud Corkman will be cheering Bohs on tomorrow,” said Walsh.