Co-financed by the Erasmus + programme of the European Union and Uefa, the Clubs and Supporters for Better Governance in Football project allows representatives from Cork City FC travel to workshops on Governance, Sustainable Finance and Member/Volunteer Engagement during the lifetime of the initiative as well as take part in three club exchanges with clubs from England, Sweden and Germany.
The first of these visits took place on Leeside between October 20th-22nd.
On Thursday, October 2oth, project co-ordinator and Cork City FC board member John Kennedy and FC United’s Community and Education Manager, Andy Cheshire, visited Nagle Community College to see the club’s First Team coach John Cotter lead the academy that was set up between the club and the school. With the objective of encouraging students to stay in school and finish their Leaving Cert, a group of 18 players train twice a week as part of their school curriculum.
The same evening Cork City FC came together with IndieCork to host An Evening Of Football Film & Chat At The Kino. Having watched two short films, Dave Tynan’s ‘Rockmount’ and ‘Pentecost’ by Peter McDonald, the attendees took part in a Q&A session led by Pat Lyons, CCFC & FORAS Trust chairman, Ben Shave of SD Europe, Tony Langlois of IndieCork and Andy Cheshire of FC United. A key thread to the discussions was the benefits that community and co-operative ownership can provide to the city.
Friday saw Cork City FC’s European working group and club staff engage in a number of discussion sessions before visiting Lord Mayor, Councillor Des Cahill – where the delegation was invited to sign the visitors book before giving an outline of what the project will entail between now and December 2017. The delegation then attended City’s home game with St. Patrick’s Athletic.
Saturday was the final day of the exchange visit and saw a discussion on the importance of a strong community ties and funding for community initiatives. Gerry Sexton of Bohemians FC outlined the reasons why the club set up a Foundation for its work earlier this year, while Andy Cheshire gave a detailed account of his club’s extensive community programme in the Moston area of Manchester.
Representatives from Cork City FC will pay a return visit to Manchester in the coming months while club partners Malmo FF and Schalke 04 will visit Cork next year.
For more information on the project, visit www.sdeurope.eu.
