Cork City RIP

It seems that the League of Ireland club, Cork City F.C., are no more. This afternoon (Friday) the High Court said it couldn't compel the Revenue Commissioners to accept a compromise offer from the club on moneys outstanding to them. The club have just over one hour to lodge an appeal with the Supreme Court (4: p.m.) but as of yet it's unclear whether they will do this, or whether their scheduled game againt Bray Wanderers tonight goes ahead.

This is a piece I wrote, initially for Extra Time, on the wider impact of their demise.

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There’s really only been one story in the League of Ireland this week, and unfortunately it is again a solemn one. If we didn’t have such a passion for the sport here, than I wonder whether these knocks would test our resolve and love of League of Ireland football. One shudders to think how many casual fans have been lost with each scandal that hits our sport. We give out about the number of English Premier League jerseys seen on our streets, yet at the same time even the most hardcore League of Ireland fan has to grudgingly admit that stories such as the collapse of Dublin City, the impending death of Cork City, the implosion of Shels and the rumours surrounding the likes of Bohs and Galway United have all given the League here a dubious reputation.

Sometimes, when sport makes the jump from the back pages to the front, it’s brilliant. Obviously, this week was not one of those times. I despaired when the news came down in work on Monday (I’ve do some work as a newsreader so was one of the first to learn of the judgement in the High Court). Though I’m a Galway United fan, this is the sort of news you hate to hear about for the reasons I’ve outlined above. The loss of Cork will hurt us all.

The news was everywhere; Newstalk led with it in their main bulletin, as did other national stations. Again, it was all over the papers the next morning. I don’t want to go into the reasons for the collapse here, that’s for someone more qualified than I. I will, however, recommend that you check out Con Murphy’s latest blog on RTE.ie. That’s telling. It’s just a shame that the wins of Derry and Pats in the Europa League last week didn’t get the same coverage.



I hope that you’re going to forgive me some self-praise for this week’s Media Watch, but I feel that I have to point out Alan Smith’s excellent piece right here on Extra Time on the demise of Cork City F.C. Most media outlets have focussed on the bare facts of the piece, and rightly so. All bar the most in-depth sports shows/publications don’t have the time or space to truly encapsulate what the potential demise of Cork City F.C. would mean. And for all those that have tried to sum this up, none have done so as well as Alan. It sums up, simply and honestly, what it would mean to the Rebel Army if they fail to find the needed miracle. The clock is ticking, but we’re all behind you lads.



EDIT: Cork have announced that they will lodge an appeal with the Supreme Court

EDIT to the edit: Things are looking good!