Erika Ní Thuama appointed Community & Academy Coordinator

Cork City FC are delighted to announce the appointment of Erika Ní Thuama as Community & Academy Coordinator.

The role will see Erika continue in the role of Covid-19 Compliance Officer, a role she took on a voluntary basis ahead of the league restarting in August, as well as working closely with our women’s and academy teams, and overseeing the club’s community operations.

Commenting on the appointment, Cork City FC Operations Manager, Éanna Buckley said: “Erika has a long association with the club, having served on the Board of Management, as well as working with us on the FAI’s very successful More Than A Club programme. Most recently, she has taken on the vital role of Covid-19 Compliance Officer, as well as volunteering on academy matchdays at Bishopstown. Since the ending of the More Than A Club Scheme, we have not been able to maintain the same community presence, and that has been to our detriment. While we are limited in the amount of community work we can do currently, we can begin planning and strategizing with regard to our future plans in this area. In order to maximise the strength of our off the field operations, we felt it was important to add this role and, in Erika, we are getting somebody who is very experienced, extremely capable and very familiar with the running of the club. In her previous roles, she has made a significant contribution to the club, and I have no doubt that she will do so again in this new role.”

Erika spoke of her happiness at taking on the new role, saying: “I am delighted to be coming on board to help drive the club’s community involvement as well as working with the women’s and academy teams. We delivered some really great social programmes during the More than a Club project which helped embed the club more in the local community and I’m looking forward to building on that. There is great work being done by Colin Healy and his staff in the academy and Rónán Collins and his coaches on the women’s side, with some really exciting players coming through the ranks, so I am looking forward to working with them to build on the work being done."

Cork City Chairman Declan Carey welcomed the appointment, stating: “Erika is a great addition to our off-field professional staff. It’s no secret that we’ve had to make structural changes across the club over the last 18-months, with a lot of those seeing staff depart the club. We’re now looking to bolster that area of the club again, and this is a good starting point to making that happen, especially in an area we want to thrive in - the community and our academy.”