Wexford FC woes continue with proposed road route
WHILE it emerged in recent weeks that Wexford FC may face competition for their League of Ireland status from a new consortium who are seeking to start a new club in the model county, the club’s off the field headaches continue as they are in danger of losing their grounds to the new N11/ N25 Oylegate to Rosslare Harbour road.
As the eight potential routes were published on the scheme’s website, option C would see the new road take a direct path through the grounds of the League of Ireland Club. An online petition appeared over the weekend on Change.org, with the strap-line ‘ Protect Ferrycarrig Park’ and had nearly 150 signatures at the time of going to print.
‘Of course it’s of massive concern to us,’ said Club Chairman Seanie O’Shea. ‘ We have another committee meeting about it this week and we’re in the process of sending in a submission on it. At the end of the day, we’re only tenants and the ground is owned by the Wexford League and the FAI, but it would obviously be of huge concern if we were to lose our ground to the new road.’
Speaking of the speculation regarding a new group coming in and seeking to establish a new League of Ireland Club in the county, Mr O’Shea said that while he had heard whispers and names mentioned, there had been no official contact with Wexford FC on behalf of the consortium behind the proposed new club.
‘Obviously the FAI won’t give two licences to Wexford, so it would appear that if a group is being put together, they’d be in direct opposition to us to be the League of Ireland club for Wexford,’ he said. ‘We’ve had no contact to the club on it whatsoever though, so all we can do is carry on.’
Those behind the mooted new club expressed a desire to see more Wexford players lining out for the local club and expressed their intention to link in with soccer clubs across the county, something which Mr O’Shea says is easier said than done.
‘Our underage setup hasn’t been there long,’ he said. ‘I would say that 80-90% of our underage players are from Wexford and we have a great relationship with a lot of Wexford clubs and they’re delighted to see the young lads play with us. I’d love to see more Wexford lads lining out myself and if we’re still around in a few years, I think we’ll start to see a few of these lads graduate from the underage setup into the first team.’
While he’s had no contact from those behind the new venture, Mr O’Shea has warned that it takes a lot to run a club.
‘Obviously there’s the financial pressure, that’s with every club in League of Ireland,’ he said. ‘But the amount of paperwork and logistics required to get all of these teams on the pitch every week is massive. That doesn’t just happen. I’ve been involved out here since Mick (Wallace), and if I felt someone else could come in and drive this thing on more, I’d welcome them with open arms. But I’m not sure if these people know the amount of work that goes into this thing.’