Virtual events a unique way for fans to connect
FOR those of us who attend The Showgrounds regularly, we are well aware of the community spirit that comes with being a supporter of Sligo Rovers.
So often, we get caught up in results and performances, which are important too, but sometimes we forget everything else that makes us love following Sligo Rovers.
It’s one thing that I, personally, have taken from this Covid-19 pandemic.
Rovers haven’t kicked a ball in well over two months. All players and staff have been laid off as the club attempts to safeguard itself for the future when the League of Ireland can return.
On Friday, the FAI announced the cessation of all football under their jurisdiction is extended to July 20th with the exception of SSE Airtricity League clubs and UEFA Women’s Champion’s League representatives, Peamount United.
Four SSE Airtricity League clubs, Bohemian, Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers and Derry City can return to training on June 8th and will take part in a four-team tournament at a neutral venue,in preparation of their European Club competition games in late July/ early August.
All other SSE Airtricity League squads can return to collective training on June 29th.
All adult amateur and underage clubs can return to playing from August 28.
So, with no action for Rovers for another number of months, the club has had to come up with novel ideas to keep fans connected during the lockdown, whilst also raising a small bit of cash for the Bit O’Red.
The first event was a virtual interactive quiz at the end of April, something totally different.
It was only that weekend that I realised how much I miss heading into The Showgrounds every fortnight.
It’s not necessarily the football, although we miss that too, but it’s everything else that comes up with it.
Coming in the turnstiles, having a quick chat about what’s to come that evening, entering the ground and seeing all the lotto and halftime raffle sellers, all volunteers, who always have a word to say about the game that night.
We all miss walking through the ground and seeing everyone, from the turnstiles to wherever we take our seat in the ground.
All different people, of different age groups, with different interests, but with one thing in common: Sligo Rovers.
The second virtual event that Rovers held took place on Saturday night last, a virtual game with lots of added extras such as archive footage, messages from fans, local musicians, and interviews with former players Richie Ryan and Eoin Doyle.
Both of these players have gone on to enjoy stellar careers since leaving Rovers.
Both Ryan and Doyle left the club in 2011, and both headed for Scotland.
Doyle has carved out a decent career for himself in the UK, and over the weekend it was all but confirmed that his Swindon Town team had won League Two, on a points per game basis after clubs voted to end the season early.
It’s a third League Two title for the Dubliner.
He should have been out celebrating on Saturday night, but he was instead sat at home being interviewed as part of a Rovers virtual event.
“When the news broke, I was colouring in with my children at the kitchen table. I couldn’t celebrate. Usually it would be champagne being sprayed around the place. It was a bit strange and unique, but it’s a unique time. I had a few drinks in the house on Saturday night and had a few Zoom calls with the lads but that was it. It’s a strange situation,” he told the Sligo Rovers virtual match event.
Doyle was sent on loan to Swindon from Bradford at the start of the season, and hit form immediately, scoring 23 goals in 22 games.
He was recalled from his loan spell half way through the season, before joining Swindon in a permanent deal.
“I played for the Swindon manager before so when he said he wanted to sign me back it was a no-brainer. I had scored a lot for him previously. It worked out to be a good season for me personally and to help the club get promotion is an extra bonus.
“It was coming a long time. There were meetings that people wouldn’t have known about. I would have met (Bradford manager at the time) Gary Bowyer coming into November and December. He would say the club is calling me back and I was saying ‘I don’t want to play for you, you let me go for the season and my contract is up at the end of the season’.
“I just didn’t want to go back and felt there was no point. If he said a colour was blue, I’d say the colour was green. That is how the conversation went for about six weeks. It was constant arguments and me not wanting to go back.
“Eventually I went to the media and said publicly I wanted to be a Swindon player until the end of the season and that I was hoping Bradford would stick to the arrangement and not call me back. It happened. It was a strange situation where a parent club would send a player out on loan to a team in the same division and they end up struggling for goals and the club they sent the player to was doing better than them. I had never seen anything like it in football.
“It was weird being part of it but I was glad in the long-term I could get back and have success at Swindon.”
Doyle has linked up with Paul Cook several times throughout his career, and he attributes a huge amount of his success to Cook, who turned him into a centre forward.
“He is 90% of it I would say. I think it was a game against Cork, away from home late on in the season. I would have been playing on the wing at the time.
“We were in the hotel having a pre-match meal and Cookie comes over to me and says ‘Doyler, what do you think your best position is’. So I said I’m a striker. He said ‘go away, you are messing’. The following season we needed someone to fill in as striker and the rest is history from there. He always gave me great advice.”
The 32-year-old won the EA Sports Cup with Rovers in 2010, along with the FAI Cup that year and again in 2011.
He wasn’t there in 2012 when the club won the league as he had departed for Hibernian.
“It is one thing that still haunts me, that I haven’t won the league at home. I’d love to be able to come back to Ireland one day and be able to do that,” he said.
Richie Ryan, now plying his trade with El Paso Locomotive in the United States, is arguably one of the best players to play for Sligo Rovers.
He told the Sligo Rovers virtual event: “I seen an interview from Raff Cretaro recently saying that in that era, we went out every week knowing that we were going to win. We were a very confident group of players, protecting each other on the pitch. That allowed us to enjoy the football.”
Ryan missed the 2010 cup final through suspension, but was there in 2011 to make amends.
“That was a sickener. Me and
Matthew Blinkhorn, we had a tough morning the morning of the cup final but thankfully we had a manager like Cookie (Paul Cook) to make it a little bit easier for it. Thankfully the lads finished the job.
“2011 definitely made up for it. It was nice to get back there and play in a cup final and fortunately Ciaran Kelly allowed us to win another trophy.”
Ryan had left the club for Dundee United in 2012 when the Bit O’Red finally won the league. He couldn’t help but feel as though he was missing out.
“It was strange. It was a strange experience. I was delighted for the lads to go on and win the league , that was what we set out to do in 2010, we came close once or twice. Sometimes I look back and think I wish I was still at the club at that time, just to have that league winners medal and enjoy the celebration with the rest of the team!”
When things are tough, it’s nice to sit down and reminisce about the good times.
Sometimes it takes something as wide as this for us to appreciate Sligo Rovers and what we all love about following the club.
The interactions that follow such events, no matter how brief, remind you why you love going out to follow your local club so much.
Hearing former players like Ryan and Doyle speak so fondly of the club, despite going on to achieve greater things, means a lot.
Perhaps, when we can eventually get back to The Showgrounds, we will all appreciate the occasion a little bit more than we had done.
At least for a while.