2 days ago
Hoops scene: why people become Shamrock Rovers' fans & volunteers
Analysis: A new project is looking at the part played by Shamrock Rovers' fans and volunteers in building a club and community culture
By Anna Maria Mullally, Alan Fitzpatrick and Glenn Doyle
Currently at the top of the League of Ireland, there is no doubt that Shamrock Rovers remain the team to beat on the domestic scene this season. In common with most clubs, Rovers' fortunes have been shaped by their wider 'family' of fans and volunteers off the pitch.
These are the people who have stuck with Rovers, through its nomadic history, which saw the club move from Ringsend to Milltown to playing home games at venues outside of Dublin to finally settling in South Dublin County Council's Tallaght Stadium. As stadium manager, Nicola Coffey, observes, ''match nights have become a focal point and it's become part of the culture here."
Tapping into that local culture, TU Dublin School of Media researchers approached the club to propose an audio-visual research project into their fan and volunteer cultures. Launched in 2024, the project marked the 125-year anniversary of the club's foundation, 15 years since its relocation to Tallaght and the 30th anniversary of the Media Production & Digital Arts degree programme at TU Dublin.
The Shamrock Rovers in the Community Project focuses on the impact the club has had on its volunteers and match-going supporters, both historically, and in the present day. The aim is to generate a historical record of fan and volunteer voices and personal experiences through audio interviews and photos, to be housed in the Digital Repository of Ireland at Maynooth University.
Volunteer culture
Voluntary activity is recognised as an essential element of the wider sporting eco-system. Recently volunteer involvement in Irish sport has progressed close to pre-pandemic levels with some 465,000 people involved. While primarily reflective of GAA volunteering, increased participation is mirrored across grassroots and League of Ireland football too.
Phelim Warren is a Shamrock Rovers' volunteer and he talked about his role as Audio Descriptive Commentator for visually impaired match day fans. "It is not only about the 90 minutes on the park, it's affecting people's personal lives, making it better'" His contribution is representative of the progressively more inclusive and diverse roles fulfilled by the large cohort of volunteers in the league, the majority of whom downplay their contribution and emphasise instead the benefit they get from volunteering.
The project's volunteer demographic spans genders and generation, with participants ranging in age from 20 to 82. Three key findings elicited from the interviews undertaken were that volunteers felt part of a community, they felt a sense of loyalty and that they felt that volunteering was a means of them giving back to what they refer to as 'their club'.
Dedicating up to 50 hours a week providing support to both men and woman's first teams, the underage academy teams, the Junior Hoops kids supporters' clubs or liaising with fans attending on match days, voluntary activities extend across the club. As volunteer Siobhán Keane said, "it's a community that opened their arms and hearts up to me. Every time I leave Rovers at the end of whatever I've been helping out with, it's been an absolute joy".
Fan research
Research is ongoing into fans' experiences and their relationship with the club. Fan interviews have revealed a Rovers' fanbase drawn from different parts of the city, owing to the club's migration, as well as a wider fan diaspora.
Fan hierarchies are also evident, with fan 'authenticity' a complex mix of club membership status, match-attendance, emotional investment, expression, memory, pride in the club and, especially, in its redemption story of salvation from collapse through the fundraising of its members. Rovers' director Mark Lynch puts it best: "our biggest win - and it sounds heavy, and it was heavy - was saving the club."
A symposium was held in December 2024 to celebrate the work of the project and other aspects of Rovers social and historical activities and a second one, on the theme of Women in Football, is scheduled for December 2025. If you would like to learn more about the project or contribute, please contact any of the authors.
