MAYBE YOU HAVE to be a little bit crazy to be a League of Ireland fan. Braving the unpredictable Irish elements to be a part of a crowd that frequently won’t break the four-figure mark isn’t everybody’s idea of a fun Friday night out, that’s for sure.
But for those bitten by the bug, the lure of the domestic game is much greater than the ups and downs of the action on the pitch. It’s the opportunity to be an active part of a club, central to its day-to-day running and often its survival.
And, sometimes, the chance to share in something very special.
Since settling down in Tallaght Stadium four years ago and shaking off the nomadic shackles which plagued them since the sale of Glenmalure Park, Shamrock Rovers have been one of the success stories of Irish football. Theirs has been a rollercoaster ride: from the brink of extinction to the thrill of finally playing in their new home, the glory of a first league title in 16 years and the remarkable European campaign which followed, a run which saw them qualify for the group stages of the Europa League and rub shoulders with some of the continent’s big boys and, briefly, take the lead against Tottenham Hotspur in White Hart Lane.
“If you write this description you wouldn’t believe it,” says Macdara Ferris who, with co-author Karl Reilly, has chronicled these four seasons in Tallaght Time, a new book to be published next week. Ferris and Reilly are Rovers fans and a microcosm of the fanbase that has grown around the Hoops in recent years: Ferris, 37, went to his first game in the old days of Glenmalure; 27-year-old Reilly is a more recent convert, supporting the club since the move to Tallaght.
They have lived through some of the club’s finest hours, but how do you cross that line from being devoted fans into writing a 320-page book? From the moment they sit down and start talking, it’s clear that they are living proof of the community spirit which sustains Irish football despite low attendances and financial hardships. Both are regular contributors to the Rovers’ matchday programmes — Ferris with player interviews and Reilly with statistical analysis — and throughout the book, it is this groundwork that the narrative hangs on.
The front cover of Tallaght Time (photo by Bobby Best).
It was last October that Reilly, who is also a trustee of the Shamrock Rovers Heritage Trust, reached out to Ferris and they started to work together. Tallaght Time is not a club publication but unsurprisingly those who were at the heart of the club during this time — players, fans and the board — were more than happy to go on record and document the journey. Some of the interviews were brief; others, including the chat with chairman Jonathan Roche, lasted upwards of three hours.
“Right from the off Jonathan was very supportive and very interested in helping us,” Ferris explains. “With good reason. It’s a good news story. A lot of people talk down on the League of Ireland but this is a good news story.”
What they have produced is a window into the unpredictable lot of an Irish football club and, for Rovers, the unforgettable magic that takes hold when everything finally clicks, however briefly. The stand-out moments of the book are well-known to those within Irish football — the visits of Real Madrid and Juventus to Tallaght; two league titles; and the drama of Belgrade and the unforgettable adventure which that shock win spawned.
But the real gold is to be found in the stories behind the headlines: the tale of Roche’s mad dash from Belgrade to Monaco for the Europa League draw only to be met by a driver expecting Partizan officials at the airport; or the tale of Spurs’ multi-billionaire owner Joe Lewis and how he very nearly ended up donating his boat for a Rovers party.
Unsurprisingly the European campaign is at the heart of the book — the front cover is a photo of Gary Twigg, arms spread wide, as the final whistle went in Belgrade. One thing that stands out, Ferris says, is the respect shown to the club at every turn by opposing fans and officials. These were clubs with wage bills that dwarfed Rovers but they welcomed them as a club full of history.
Now, with Tallaght Time, the voices of those who made the last four seasons possible have been added to the record.
