THEY’VE BEEN ONE of the best and brightest parts of the 2014 GAA season, and a Munster final is next up for Austin Stacks’ colourful fans next Sunday afternoon.
The Tralee club head to Páirc Uí Rinn for the AIB Munster senior club football decider against Waterford’s The Nire. It’s already been a brilliant year for the club as they ended their 20-year wait for a Kerry senior football title earlier this month.
Their progress has put the spotlight on ‘The Rockies’ fans and their long-running tradition of marching en masse to stadiums before matches.
Austin Stacks boss Stephen Stack – a 1997 All-Ireland winner with Kerry and a Listowel Emmett’s native – has heaped praise upon their supporters.
“I think the supporters are unique, I’ve never seen anything like it. In terms of their place in history, it is there but probably there based a lot on what happened in the 70′s and 80′s.
“Unfortunately in the last 20 years the club hasn’t had the sort of success it had wished for. We can’t take anything for granted we have only won one title.
“We can’t really trade off the history of the club either, except the respect that it’s a club with a great tradition. Anything we do, we have to do in our own right and players have to take on the responsibility to do something and try and create their own legacy.”
Here’s some examples of the brilliant pre-match atmosphere their fans have created:
1. Tralee – October 26th – Kerry county senior final draw
2. Killarney – November 2nd – Kerry county senior football final replay
3. Tralee – November 9th – Munster senior football semi-final
