Bishopstown - the name of this Cork suburb conjures up mixed memories for Cork City fans, and plenty of fans from other League of Ireland clubs, not to mention a handful of Slavia Prague, Galatasary, Chelsea, and Glasgow Celtic fans as well. This blog will document ongoing research into the story of the attempt to build a permanent ground for Cork City FC at Currraheen. Over time there will be updates in the form of scanned newspaper clippings, some writing etc. If you have anything you believe might be of use in forming the story please get in touch with me by leaving a comment.
Introduction
Cork City Football Club was established in 1984 and has been the city and county's most successful national football club. This has been no mean feat considering that Cork City is the latest, and hopefully remains so, club in a string which dates back well before Ireland became independent. Over the last 33 years the club has won every major honour in Irish football and consistently represented Cork with aplomb on the European stage in competitions such as the European Cup, UEFA Cup, Champions League and Europa League. Despite this level of success, and the arguable claim that the club is the most important in the country (I like to think of Cork City as being how Ferrari is in Formula One; while not always at the front, it's always thereabouts and the series as a whole would be nothing with it) Cork City only ever played in a ground it owned itself for less than a handful of years. In doing so it promoted the dream of a progressive and professional football club, one that was attempting to move past old League of Ireland stereotypes, which put itself at the very heart of the local and national sporting community. Dreams can be fickle things however, metamorphosing into nightmares without a foundation on which to land should they not be harnessed carefully. In pursuing the dream of its own ground Cork City very nearly awoke the nightmare scene of yet another Cork football club going to the wall. The club barely escaped that particular nightmare, only to encounter it again twice more over the last 9 years.
How did the dream of owning its own ground almost kill Ireland's biggest football club? Before that can be answered with any sense of depth you have to ask the question as to where the initial idea came from and what made the relevant people think it could work. Why, and how, did they follow the dream? What caused it to turn into a nightmare?
The story of the former Cork City Football Club ground at Curraheen in the suburb of Bishopstown is one that has yet to be told. It is a story that is, surely, more than just a history of a short-lived football ground but instead the story of a club attempting to establish itself as a professional entity and compete toe-to-toe against not just other Irish football clubs but clubs of all sports both here and abroad. The modern template of an edge-of-city stadium, which so many clubs around the world have seen work, was turned on its head as promises of modern facilities the envy of all other clubs never washed with the reality of portacabins, muddy car parks, and the mysterious fog which would hang over the playing surface preventing the hardy souls in the stand from seeing the ball. Rather than strive for promised modernity supporters wanted out and a return to the spiritual, although then dilapidated, home of Cork football at Turners Cross.
Whatever about anything else the League of Ireland is a truly human league, and Turners Cross a uniquely human ground of a scale that never daunts but welcomes. Could Bishopstown have ever been so soulful? If the walls in the stand that is now slated to be knocked and replaced by a generic office block could talk they might enlighten us to a far more human story than Bishopstown was ever credited with. The list of characters those walls might whisper about would make for a fine Hollywood cast. A controversial chairman given the unfortunate nickname of "Plonk" by some City fans but who was one of the front men for the first attempt to own a ground in the aborted purchase of Flower Lodge (now Pairc Uí Rinn). A forward-thinking manager who hailed from Dublin who seemed to epitomise a new professionalism in Cork but who left midway through a season where City were clear at the top of the table in Damian Richardson. Outside of the club were the planning department of the Cork County Council whose own planning regulations never quite fit the plans for Bishopstown! Not to mention the roles of the Irish Greyhound Board and the FAI, battling for control of the ground following the departure of Cork City. This is before mentioning home games that were played in St Coleman's Park in Cobh due to pitch troubles or a myriad of other troubles.
As Cork City Football Club now looks forward to the development of a permanent training ground in the joint FAI/FORAS/Cork City FC Glanmire Soccer Centre of Excellence, it would do us no harm to look back at the last attempt to set up a permanent home. Not only may there be lessons to be learned but it is an exercise in remembering the history of our club. Broader still the story of Bishopstown will surely contain some ideas and thoughts on why League of Ireland grounds are often poor, and how they can be improved without devouring a whole football club.
Low lie the fields of Bishopstown...where we had dreams and songs to sing [but couldn't see the ball for the fog].
Check back every so often for updates on the research taking place. Thanks for reading.
