The Heart of the Game

Paz-CCFC

A new ‘how to’ guide for League of Ireland supporters was launched at Dáil Éireann by Minister of State for Sport, Michael Ring TD this afternoon.

The Heart of the Game handbook compiles advice, examples of best practice and case studies from around the League, and is the culmination of 18 months work by FORAS, the Supporters’ Trust that owns and runs Cork City FC, as part of a European Commission and Supporters Direct Europe-backed initiative entitled ‘Improving Football Governance through Supporter Involvement and Community Ownership’.

The project has seen League of Ireland clubs, Supporters’ Trusts and fan organisations from across the country come together to produce a reference document covering a range of issues from setting up a Supporters’ Trust to improving governance within an organisation.

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http://www.corkcityfc.ie/home/2013/06/18/minister-ring-launches-loi-supporters-handbook/


The complete handbook is available to read here.


The handbook gives an insight into the running of a football club, the importance of supporters, ways in which things may be improved etc., based largely on feedback given from fans. The bottom line is highlighting the importance of supporters gaining at least a share-hold in their football club. Great credit must go to former Cork City FC board member Niamh O'Mahony, in particular, who was the main person involved in the initiative, as well as all those who've given up a lot of their time and effort to provide a very detailed guide.

I've only read the first chapter, but so far, it's very interesting. It's well worth a read for any football supporter - or supporter of any sport, full stop.

Pat D. Almighty

Had a read of it yesterday. A must read for anyone serious about helping change Irish football for the better.

Gavin "shels"

Just on a side issue, if anyone has any bother with the site can you PM me, we had a bit of work to get it sorted on the domain for the launch on Tuesday.

losthorizon

Must give that a read over the weekend.

dfx-

I read an article a while back that Niamh O'Mahoney was giving a presentation on the subject to a UEFA audience in Madrid.

dreamers75

Fans shouldnt run football clubs.

dan1895

dreamers75 wrote: »

Fans shouldnt run football clubs.

Yes it's been an absolute disaster for all those German clubs.

Must give that a read soon.

Paz-CCFC

dreamers75 wrote: »

Fans shouldnt run football clubs.

How many of these clubs were run by fans?

losthorizon

Good Point although I do think there is a place for clubs who are run by a mixture of fans and rich individuals together. IMO that works better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fan-owned_sports_teams#Germany

dreamers75

Paz-CCFC wrote: »

How many of these clubs were run by fans?

So who is sacking Tommy Dunne this weekend? Fans? Board? players?

Fans shouldnt run football clubs because they are idiots and fickle. its a company thats supposed to make money therefore should be ran by someone that doesnt have an allegiance to a performance.

But best of luck with your endeavours, sure just follow the Shamrock Rovers model....their fans run the club or at least believe they do .....HAHAHAHAH

Also your on that list 7 or 8 times.

artanevilla

dreamers75 wrote: »

So who is sacking Tommy Dunne this weekend? Fans? Board? players?

Fans shouldnt run football clubs because they are idiots and fickle. its a company thats supposed to make money therefore should be ran by someone that doesnt have an allegiance to a performance.

But best of luck with your endeavours, sure just follow the Shamrock Rovers model....their fans run the club or at least believe they do .....HAHAHAHAH

Also your on that list 7 or 8 times.

I'm an fan and I'm neither an idiot or fickle. A football club is a club, it exists for the member of the club, it is not a business. A true football club should run to break even, not a profit. It should be run by someone who has both knowledge of running a club and has the interests of the members and fans at heart.

dreamers75

artanevilla wrote: »

I'm an fan and I'm neither an idiot or fickle. A football club is a club, it exists for the member of the club, it is not a business. A true football club should run to break even, not a profit. It should be run by someone who has both knowledge of running a club and has the interests of the members and fans at heart.

So you allowed your club to sell its ground twice and owe 6 million is it to Zurich?

Well done!

Question remains where the people who made these decisions that turned your club into a super club that won leagues and made records into a destitute club about to be relegated because of reckless spending fans or people being paid to run a company?

Cheers for reinforcing my opinion that fans shouldnt run football clubs. I mean i forgot about Bohs and you are one the best examples of why fans shouldnt fun football clubs. You have overtaken Rovers in that list...well done.

osarusan

People who know how to run football clubs should run football clubs.

If whoever is running a club, be it fans or a businessman, doesn't know what they're doing, they'll be in trouble.

There's no reason to believe that the simple statement that fans can't/shouldn't run clubs is correct.

Richard Hillman

Paz-CCFC wrote: »

How many of these clubs were run by fans?

I would say the majority were run by fans. Even if the club was owned by a sole individual, I would imagine that individual would be a fan.

Paz-CCFC

dreamers75 wrote: »

So who is sacking Tommy Dunne this weekend? Fans? Board? players?

No one has sacked anyone, yet. Not sure what your point, is, anyway - you'd swear that only fans-owned clubs sack managers when the going is tough.

Fans shouldnt run football clubs because they are idiots and fickle. its a company thats supposed to make money therefore should be ran by someone that doesnt have an allegiance to a performance.

Such as Tom Coughlan? Louis Kilcyone? Arkaga?

But best of luck with your endeavours, sure just follow the Shamrock Rovers model....their fans run the club or at least believe they do .....HAHAHAHAH

Or, perhaps, we'll follow our own model. You may not realise this, but every trust doesn't have to run exactly the same way. Supporters of one club can vote differently than supporters of others.

Also your on that list 7 or 8 times.

And of course you'd get this little dig in. I don't see Cork City on that list. I do, however, see plenty of former Cork clubs, none of whom were owned by a supporter's trust, and ended up going to the wall. I also see plenty of Dublin clubs - more defunct clubs from Dublin than Cork, in fact.

Richard Hillman wrote: »

I would say the majority were run by fans. Even if the club was owned by a sole individual, I would imagine that individual would be a fan.

Of course, I meant fans' groups such as trusts. Being run by a sole individual who has the best intentions of the club at heart can be problematic. They have the sole responsibility of decision making - it's a dictatorship, essentially, and even benevolent dictators don't always do the best things. Look at Brian Lennox with City - put in hundreds of thousands of his own money and brought the club a lot of success. But then he simply didn't have any money left and had to sell the club on - to a group that placed it into examinership. At least with a trust, you have the responsibility spread throughout a few hundred people. Something that one man might miss, can be spotted by the large body of others involved in the club.