Cobh chairman Bill O'Leary hopeful ahead of League of Ireland restart later this month

Cobh Ramblers chairman Bill O’Leary feels that the East Cork club is in a strong and stable position for when the League of Ireland resumes at the end of July.

The Ramblers, who began their 2020 season with one win and two losses, were sixth in the League of Ireland First Division before the COVID-19 shutdown.

O’Leary, who was involved in the discussions of returning to play by representing the FDA in discussions with the FAI, believes the work done in the shutdown will benefit the club long term.

“We are feeling energised ahead of the restart,” he said, “We have done an awful lot of work through the lockdown. Before all of this we had serious momentum building the club. While we lost some of that, we have used the time constructively to build the club.

“One thing we have brought in is a range of subgroups for the club. We have set these up in areas such as community engagement, facility management, strategy, and our club centenary celebration plans.

“We want to devolve a lot of decision making so it is not just two or three people making all the decisions. This is important for a community-based club founded on transparency.

“We are trying to build a financially stable club and we are trying to build a more diverse club. By this, I mean we want to have more women working in the club, create diverse income streams and build regionally.

“We are looking at growing the club regionally also and whilst we want to be a local club in Cobh, we want to become the second Cork club.”

Play-off chasing Cobh were level on points with fifth placed Bray Wanderers when the FAI ordered a shut-down of all footballing activities in March.   

“We were unfortunate with the start of the season. We had one win and two losses. But what is done is done and we are in a position right we now were we can recover.”

“It’s not all about promotion. It is about building a connection to the community and building momentum.

“I believe our success as a club cannot be defined solely by the success on the pitch. I have seen so many clubs over the years get caught up in a boom to bust cycle. That is not how we will operate this club. We want to build the club with a sustainable long-term plan based around community.”

“The worst scenario for me is that Cobh over-extend themselves on the pitch, don’t build links with the community, and end up in financial difficulty.”

Cobh have also opened up an online club shop during the shutdown, formalised links with charities and launched a podcast to celebrate the rich history of Cork’s oldest League of Ireland club.  

“We have really built the Cobh brand in the off season. We might not make huge revenue streams from merchandise sales, but it is also about building our brand and building recognition.

“Amazingly Cobh Ramblers jerseys are now being seen all over the world and a beautiful connection is being built with the Cork and Cobh diaspora.

“The podcast is giving a tangible accessible voice to many people who were involved in the club over the years.

“It is bringing together people including ex-players who may have felt disenfranchised from the club. Those people love the Ramblers, Cork football, and Irish football. We want to give them a voice.

“We had a ninety-four-year-old on the podcast talk about his experiences playing in the 1950s. This is important for us as we approach our club’s centenary anniversary and these memories which could have been lost are now being collated and curated forever.

“Right now, we are working with the centenary group and we are hoping to build a calendar of events for 2022.

 “We are also looking at developing a type of museum of memories for the club that would be open to all for a few months.

“We are a historic club with a relatively long footballing history, and we want to celebrate that together.”