Tolka Rovers F.C. are an amateur
Irish football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club based in
Glasnevin,
Dublin. They play in the
Leinster Senior League. They play at
Frank Cooke Park and wear red shirts with white sleeves. The club's junior teams play at
Johnstown Park Johnstown may refer to:
Places Australia
* Johnstown, Queensland, a locality split between the Southern Burnett Region and the Gympie Region, Queensland
Canada
* Johnstown, Nova Scotia
* Johnstown, Ontario, United Counties of Leeds and Grenvill ...
.
History
The club was founded in 1922 and had a social hall in
Finglas Bridge. It continued into the mid-1930s and reformed in the 1940s. During that period, the club played in 'Doyle's Field', now known as
West Park. Tolka Rovers then moved to
Clonmell Park, in the
Ballymun area of Dublin in 1945. In 1946 the club had moved once again to
Blanchardstown after which it had the use of the fields in Finglas with the consent of the
County Council. However, Rovers were moved from place to place due to housing development and were unable to establish a permanent home. On the November 19, 1958, the club's board signed a lease with
Dublin Corporation for a
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
pitch. Due to financial constraints, they were only able to acquire an 11 month lease at the time, and the board were advised that perhaps we would have a better chance of becoming long-term tenants in
Ballygall Road East. The club's board made an application to the Dublin Board of Assistance and duly met the engineer. It was agreed that Tolka Rovers submit a plan of their requirements for a ground and they did so on June 24, 1960. In 1963 after lengthy negotiations, the club was informed that the site in question had been allocated
planning permission for
apartments.
Once again, Rovers applied to Dublin Corporation for a long-term lease of the pitch in Finglas East, pointing out that they had now spent hundreds of
pounds in rent and rates. Unfortunately for the club, there was no hope of accepting the terms offered. They continued to play in Finglas East. Crippled by the costs of the lease, the club was forced to adopt a pragmatic approach and innovatively used nearby residential houses as
dressing rooms with permission from the owner.
The club returned to Johnstown Park in 1971. In the meantime, the board were renewing their application for the club premises. They had meetings over the years with Dublin Corporation and were pleased when in December 1974, they were finally granted a site in Fitzmaurice Road. The board knew the time was right for redevelopment and began to set about creating ambitious plans for the club in conjunction with meetings with their architect. They submitted the plans, but eventually had to withdraw them in 1975 due to planning restrictions which would have left the club with very little space for future redevelopment. They continued for a further four years to pursue the ambition of constructing a new complex and on the March 20, 1979 they were given title to the present site. Work then commenced and on the March 10, 1980, the Frank Cooke sports complex was completed.
The complex was official opened on the July 18, 1982 by
Jim Tunney
Jim or JIM may refer to:
* Jim (given name), a given name
* Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James
* Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy
* OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism
* ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring
* ''Jim ...
,
Leas Ceann Comhairle of
Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...
, for a match against
League of Ireland side
Bohemians. The club has competed regularly since then in the Leinster Senior League and pending their performance in this league, enters the
FAI Cup
The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...
at the early stages. The team has put in many battling performances throughout the years, and they claimed a famous 2–2 draw in the FAI Cup Second Round against
League of Ireland Premier Division team
Waterford United on June 15, 2007.
Honours
*
FAI Junior Cup
The FAI Junior Cup is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for junior association football clubs from the Republic of Ireland. The inaugural winners were Brideville. The competition's most successful club is Fairvi ...
**''Winners'': 1972–73, 1988–89: 2
**''Runners Up'': 1969–70, 1973–74: 2
*
FAI Youth Cup
**''Winners'': 1986–87, 2002–03: 2
References
{{Reflist
Association football clubs in Dublin (city)
Leinster Senior League (association football) clubs
1922 establishments in Ireland
Former Athletic Union League (Dublin) clubs