I can’t remember my first time in the Showgrounds in much the same way that I can’t remember my first time in our kitchen or living room. It feels as if the place has always been part of who I am. Life begins and ends with the Rovers. About 20 years ago, I was having fairly serious surgery in Sweden and when I came through the guy told me he thought I was going to be around for a while. I was out of it on tranquilizers but my automatic response was: “up the Rovers”.
Why does Sligo Rovers matter so much to me? It is deeper than logic. Even now, when I drive into Sligo and see those floodlights an hour before the match starts: it is like catching sight of your spiritual life. It’s the closest thing to seeing the soul of the town. Rovers are a perfect fit for Sligo because of the flaws. We are never the finished article.
You have to remember Sligo is a garrison town. Football is a working class game. And the key to Sligo Rovers is to be found in the local authority housing estates. The great players we have had - Harry McLoughlin, Jimmy Burnside, Gerry Mitchell, Tony Fagan, Dessie Gallagher: they were of the town. Even the location of the Showgrounds is unique. It is in the heart of the town and it is owned by the people. It is bigger than a dancehall - but not all that much. It was a place you went for escapism and adventure and dreams.
And it is not a male thing. Women have always featured prominently in the club. Nancy Callaghan, for instance, used to sit behind the goals on her own chair. She was a fixture, on the pitch, between the stand and the goals. It was a towny’s game when I was a boy but since then we have had guys like Raff Cretaro, the Tobercurry Tornado, becoming folk legends in the club and committee members from Grange and Drumcliff. The game has spread throughout the county, which is wonderful.
Rovers were always trying to do something different, something exotic. There was always “an English fella” coming in next season, even when the club wasn’t going well. We had Len White one year, a Newcastle player who had played for England. And another guy who had been an England cricket player. It was probably under Ken Turner we began to get really good English players like Mick Walker who was ex-Rotherham.
Black humour
The atmosphere among the crowd was always loyal. On bad years, there’d be black humour but it was always loyal. There were so many games with near riots and when the referee had to get Garda protection leaving the field.
We played Dundalk one year when Liam Millington was playing for us and Mick Millington was playing for them. And the two brothers ended up fighting on the field.
Then, in 1970, we had the saga against Bohs in the FAI Cup. I was 13 going on 14. It was my first time on the train to Dublin. It was like the Love Train: all these fellas drinking and courting women. There were compartments in the carriages in those days. We walked from Amiens Street to Dalymount. We were culchies. I remember looking up at these planes taking off from Dublin airport and I had never seen anything like that before. We lost that cup final after a replay but it added to the folklore. The train ended up back in Sligo at three in the morning.
Then, in 1977, we won the league. I was starting out as a reporter with the Sligo Champion. And we had some really fabulous footballers. Paul McGee, ex-Summerhill, went to QPR in ‘77. That was a big thing for us. I had the phone in the house because I was starting as a reporter and Paul lived in a cottage down at the end of our house on Kieran’s Road. Keith Burkinshaw was the manager at QPR and I remember them talking on the phone in our house to try and get the deal done.
I used to give lifts to away games to Tony Fagan and Tony Kavanagh, both of whom played for the team. Fago was a local who had been a messenger boy and a wizard of a footballer. He did grocery deliveries for the county manager’s family and prominent people like that and he would open a pack of biscuits and share them out with us on his rounds. I don’t think they were ever missed!
Tony Kavanagh was from Northern Ireland and guys would kick the daylights out of him because he was so skilful. He took terrible hackings but he was so courageous. From being in their company on those journeys, I learned more about the texture of the club and my love for it just deepened.
Some seasons were forgettable but the teams would always give you a moment. The belief is that once in a blue moon, our turn comes. We had this big strong guy called Kevin Fallon one year. He was a bread and butter player. We were having a terrible season and, in this particular game, Fallon took a ball off the line with an overhead kick. Just witnessing that made our night. It was so unexpected. It was like seeing someone fly.
Curling shot
Harry McLoughlin’s winning goal in the 1983 FAI Cup final is probably the most magical day for me. I was on the terrace in Dalymount and I will always see that beautiful curling shot. I associate that year with Ceara, my wife. She is from Cork and that year we were losing to Cobh Ramblers at Flower Lodge in the semi-final of the cup when Mick Graham rose like a salmon to head in the equaliser. We won the replay and then went on a run. All the traffic lights in my life were going green that year so I asked Ceara to marry me.
I always tried to fundraise for Sligo and served a few years on the committee. When I was in Brussels with RTÉ, I had to follow them at a distance, obviously. But happily, they played against FC Brugge in the Cup Winners’ Cup during that time. That was…a good night. Aidan Rooney scored our first ever away goal in Europe. In Bruges!
What I like most about Rovers is the sense of belonging. Dermot Kelly, for instance, was a fantastic chairman. Dermot grew up in Castlerea but the family came to Sligo on summer holidays and Dermot became a fan. He became a handy footballer and kept an eye on Rovers and later became our chairman even though he lived in Dublin and had a demanding job as a consultant anaesthetist. It was on his watch that Paul Cook was recruited as manager and Joey N’Do played with us. Cookie was a genius.
In 2012 we won the league with Ian Baraclough, who has gone on to manage Oldham and Northern Ireland. We put in an all-weather pitch and the Showgrounds is a gorgeous stadium now. You’d be kind of proud of it. We did this tiled wall thing where people can put up a tile. We have a 500 club where people pitch in 240 quid a year. That is pretty important.
Last year, when we were really in trouble and lost our first four games, it looked like we were bunched. But out of the blue a new generation of fundraisers, young guys, the Bit O’Red trust, set up a GoFundMe page and raised €86,000. It was amazing and that kept the club going. All of a sudden we started winning and qualified for Europe.
Bottomless hole
A few years ago, I despaired for the future of the league. It’s such a financial battle. Rovers is a bottomless hole. As soon as you raise money, it is gone before you even deliver it. There are always bills. You are selling young players this dream. The Séamus Coleman dream, I suppose. But the pandemic has been good in a funny way with League of Ireland TV. You can see more teams now and it is a really interesting league.
I think we have a better squad than last year. Our finances are better than they have been. Our chairman - and this is what I love about Sligo, they pull rabbits out of hats - is Tommy Higgins, the former CEO of Ticketmaster Europe. He is from Sligo and he always kept his roots here. A clever, clever guy. Our treasurer David Rowe is an accountant and solicitor based in Dublin but as a young fella his father was a bank manager here so he understands the club. Our secretary Brendan Glacken is a rep with a drinks company and a masterful guy for behind the scenes work. Colin Feehily is the CEO and he is the brother of Mark from Westlife.
So we have always been a bit bigger than a local club. Look at our managers - Cookie is at Ipswich, Baraclough with Northern Ireland, Lawrie Sanchez did well out of Sligo. Séamus Coleman is captain of Everton and Ireland. We have always had that element of theatre about us. This is the club that once signed Dixie Dean!
And what other club would dream of giving free jerseys to every new born baby? Sligo Rovers did that. I’d be fairly certain a few of them are going to end up like me. And that Rovers will give them plenty of good days out.
Tommie Gorman was RTE’s Northern Editor since 2000 and previously worked as Europe Editor. He retired in April after 41 years of service with the broadcaster.
