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Cork City's history of survival is a cause of celebration this year

EchoLive.ie, 5 Feb

40 years after its foundation, the Rebel Army is still going strong

despite a series of ups and downs

Cork City FC fans celebrate winning the First Division league title in

2022. Picture: Jim Coughlan.

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Dylan O’ Connell

EVERY club has it – a defined identity that is unique to their specific

place.

It doesn’t matter what sport or where they are based. Everyone has

something that sets them apart from the rest, even in cities with

hundreds of clubs operating at all levels.

River Plate – who are known as Los Millonarios – created a unique

identity by splashing out and signing players to play a brand of

football based on self-expression and skill. Their cross-town rivals,

Boca Juniors, forged their sense of self in the barrios made up of the

working-class children of immigrants who travelled to Argentina from

Europe during the 18th century.

A lot of those who docked in Buenos Aires had roots in Naples and the

south of Italy, a place that worships Napoli, an institution in Italian

football. Their entire being is created around pride of place, and

being in opposition to the rich teams from northern cities that look

down on those in the south.

When Napoli play in Europe, they bring their message with them and

broadcast it to like-minded clubs.

Barcelona are one of those and their entire existence is based on the

Catalan way of life and doing things their way, which is playing

football the way Cruyff taught them in the 1990s. That in itself comes

from Amsterdam in the 1960s, during the city’s transformation into a

place of bohemian-like self-expression.

Ajax was the sporting embodiment of this time in the Dutch capital and

a team managed by Rinus Michels created ‘Total Football’ by

experimenting through trial and error. One of their most famous results

was a 6-1 hammering of Liverpool in 1966 at the Olympic Stadium in

Amsterdam.

The English champions were stunned, as they were on the crest of a wave

under Bill Shankly, a person who fused the city’s love for football

with socialist working-class sensibilities.

There are hundreds of examples of this from all over the planet – and

Cork City are no exception.

The Rebel Army might not have the same history as those in South

America or the prestige of the teams that use the Champions League as

their playground, but they still have a place in the wider ecosystem

that is their own.

That’s an innate sense of survival and place, and it means everything

to do with the club is wrapped up in the city’s history.

The club, and the supporters, know struggle and it has helped the Rebel

Army survive extinction time on time again.

It’s almost coincidental – that the worst economic disaster that the

club was founded in the same year the city was crippled by the closure

of Fords and Verolme. The two beings almost act as one, with the

fortunes of one directly influencing the other.

Like when the Great Recession brought Cork to a standstill in 2009, the

same year that the Rebel Army were in a seemingly never-ending battle

for survival with the High Court over.

BATTLE

Cork City has often had to fight it out on its own – like when the club

was served with wind-up orders in 1994 and 2006. Each time its sense of

being was hardened and reinforced, and a greater appreciation grew for

what went out on the pitch at Turner’s Cross.

Out of such sentiment comes movements like FORAS and the supporters'

group rushed in to save Cork City during its darkest hours in January

2010.

The people involved knew the history of football on Leeside, and the

importance of having a team competing in the League of Ireland.

Cork City, winners of the League of Ireland Premier Championship. Back:

Cormac Cotter, Stephen Napier, Johnny Glynn, Paul Bannon, Anthony

Buckley, Liam Murphy, Dave Barry and Tim Carey, Physio. Front: Pat

Morley, Fergus O'Donoghue, Declan Daly, Captain: Gerry McCabe, John

Caulfield and Phil Harrington. Picture Eddie O'Hare Cork City, winners

of the League of Ireland Premier Championship. Back: Cormac Cotter,

Stephen Napier, Johnny Glynn, Paul Bannon, Anthony Buckley, Liam

Murphy, Dave Barry and Tim Carey, Physio. Front: Pat Morley, Fergus

O'Donoghue, Declan Daly, Captain: Gerry McCabe, John Caulfield and Phil

Harrington. Picture Eddie O'Hare

Especially with the long list of ‘fallen clubs’ like Fordsons, Cork

Celtic, Cork Hibernian, and Cork Alberts.

Each one of those is a story of mismanagement and how people had to

start again with a new club.

Cork City have bucked the trend of their predecessors and now the 40th

anniversary of the club’s first-ever season is approaching.

The coming months will see plenty of events organised alongside matches

at Turner’s Cross, and that means there will be plenty of conversations

about famous matches and players who went on to represent various

national teams and teams in England.

Each discussion will include some mention of the ‘fallen teams’ and the

various crises that threatened association football in Cork over the

years.

It’s almost a guarantee people will look back to when they thought they

Rebel Army was on the verge of joining the likes of Hibs and Celtic.

Each time the club came back from the brink and gate receipts increased

at Turner’s Cross as people went out to show their support. This is

what the club is all about; the stands filled with colour on Friday

night as people from all ages get together with a deep appreciation of

history under a shared cause.

Some call it fanaticism. Others call it passion.

It’s what makes Cork City Cork City.