No extra time for Rineanna Rovers

The full-time whistle has sounded for one of Clare’s best-known soccer clubs, reports Sean Russell

AFTER 27 years of Clare League soccer, Rineanna Rovers FC has been forced to call it a day.
With a base between Shannon and Newmarket-on-Fergus, the club had been struggling to attract new players in recent years and rather than dropping to a lower grade, opted to wind up.
Rineanna enjoyed many years in the Premier Division and even on occasions when relegated to the First Division, the fighting spirit of the players shone through with an immediate return to the top flight.
Former secretary, Anthony Martin, spoke of his regret for what he feels was ‘necessary’ and the many reasons why it had to happen. “Over the last couple of years, we were struggling; we weren’t progressing as a club in the way we would have liked. We’re in an unpractical area, in between Shannon and Newmarket and the last few years, signing player has been difficult. In this time of economic struggle, a lot of players had to leave to find work. Realistically, you need a panel of 20 players and we’ve been working over the years with about 16 or 17. Now the last couple of seasons, we’ve had our match 11 plus a few subs. It was getting too hard and players would have family and work commitments, meaning not everyone would turn up on a Sunday. Everyone was 100% committed though. The likes of Brian Kelly and Pa Fahy could have walked into any team in Clare but they stayed with us. We also had a lot of GAA players and they wouldn’t get properly playing with us until that season finished.”
Another misfortune Anthony cited as a reason for the club’s closing down was the lack of a pitch. “Unfortunately, we didn’t own the pitch we used. John O’Dea, who owns the land, lent it to us year in, year out. It was probably our biggest stumbling block, not being able to do what we wanted with it. You look at Newmarket, who have a great facility. Shannon has great facilities. Ennis has Lees Road. We looked very hard over the summer but we couldn’t find somewhere to go. We didn’t want to go to Lees Road because we wanted to keep things more local than that.”
A lot of small clubs struggle nowadays with financial woes and although Rineanna were breaking even, they never had the income to go further. “We didn’t have as much money as we would have liked. Problems didn’t exist; we always met our bills, fines and insurance for the Clare League. We also never had to go hunting for money off our players. What we got in this year’s church-gate collection wasn’t even a third of what we would have usually got in recent years,” he said.
Further illustrating the difficulties in keeping on going, Anthony said, “This year, Bunratty have amalgamated and Newtown and Park did a few years ago. It shows how hard it is to keep a club running these days.”
Anthony insisted the family feel of the club was very important, as was the loyalty of the players, several of whom had been playing there since they were 16. That loyalty ensured the club got through the hard times, while it was difficult to find new players.
Brian Kelly, a star player for the Rovers, said, “I’m obviously very disappointed with what happened. It just came down to numbers; we did everything we could but you have to look at the bigger picture. With so many clubs in the area fighting for the same players, it is very hard to cope. Personally, I haven’t signed for anyone else and I’m thinking of maybe taking things easy now.”
Not all is so bleak, however, as the club was around in the 1960s before being disbanded and refounded again in ’84.  Striking an optimistic note, Anthony said, “We had to be fair to the players and the league. When we held the meeting, we felt we had two options: struggle in the Premier Division with our small squad, or drop down to the Third Division. The latter wasn’t seen as an option really and eventually we decided we couldn’t keep the club going. Who knows though, maybe in a couple of years, someone else will come along and found it again for us?”
Rineanna Rovers won an impressive haul of trophies. ced straight back up again. Their most recent trophy was the FAI area trophy two years ago but the club’s biggest achievement was the Clare Cup 3-2 win over Lifford three years ago. Former players and supporters certainly have plenty of proud moments to reflect on.