February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
If that’s as many people care about those sides, why should the national broadcaster be devoting precious airtime to their row?
The answer may be simple. Like them or loathe them, Shamrock Rovers are the most storied franchise in Irish soccer. Since being jettisoned from their spiritual home of Milltown in South Dublin in 1987, in the name of housing development and easy profit, they have also become the sorry nomads of the domestic league. They’ve shipped from venue to venue, shedding support and tarnishing a unique legacy along the way. Yet the name still evokes something in the public consciousness.
Their plight appeared to take a turn for the worse this past week with a double-whammy. South Dublin County Council refused to extend planning permission on the building site they hope will one day be their new stadium, and they had to nominate Drogheda as their home venue for the forthcoming season. The worst part about this latest chapter in their history is that South Dublin County Council’s decision appears entirely justified.
The politicians apparently figured that extending the planning permission was no guarantee the club would finish the project. What else were they to think when five years after turning the sod, they have yet to host a single match there? They also expressed legitimate concern about the exact nature of the relationship between Shamrock Rovers and their new investor/financial savior, Conor Clarkson.
Notwithstanding the fact Ben Dunne and Brendan O’Carroll are among those who’d been cast in that role previously, the business side of the Tallaght venture merits genuine investigation. Planning permission was initially granted to Mulden International. But when the government started handing out public money to the stadium venture, the sports capital grants were awarded to Slonepark Ltd. representing Shamrock Rovers.
Brian Kearney, a director of Mulden International, is also listed as one of the two shareholders in Slonepark. However, when Phillip Furlong, secretary-general in the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism, which doled out