There are reports this morning that Bray Wanderers and Cabinteely FC are in discussion over a potential merger.
Cabinteely FC was founded as a community club with a strong underage structure. It moved to form a League of Ireland club in 2015 as a response to the creation of national underage Leagues that would be tied into the academy structures of clubs playing at the top level of the domestic game.
Led by entertainment entrepreneur Larry Bass as Chair the structure was such that the Adult Club was managed and maintained separately to the community one with the latter having prominence. This was to avoid the risk of overreach in the League of Ireland toppling the club away from its strong base.
The clubhouse and community pitches are in Kilbogget Park in South Dublin, which they share with Seapoint Rugby Club and Foxrock Cabinteely LGFA Club. The pitches are owned by and leased from Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council and the club has thrived at underage level and in areas of inclusion and promotion of the girl’s game.
In order to play in the League of Ireland though a stadium was required and the short term fix was to rent matchdays from Blackrock College Rugby Football Club only a few kilometres away.
The hinterland for the club is large with Shamrock Rovers well to the west and St Pats to the North. The southern boundary of football influence is at Bray Wanderers and that is where the seeds of a potential merger seem to have taken hold.
Bray’s underage relationship has traditionally been with St Joseph’s in Sallynoggin, long regarded as one of the premier academy style clubs and a long time local rival of Cabinteely.
Rivalries can change though over time and the logic of a ground share between Bray who own the Carlisle Grounds in the centre of Bray and Cabinteely makes a lot of sense. If Shelbourne and Bohemian can do it in the new Dalymount Park then others would be likely to look closely as well.
It seems now though as if the ground share might have developed into something more with a full merger on the cards.
Bray’s main shareholder is Niall O’Driscoll who took over the club in 2018 and he is said to be leading the talks with Tony Richardson of Cabinteely, who took over from Bass as Chair in 2021.
With applications due shortly for licensing to play in the 2022 season, this is unlikely to go through before then but could be a development to watch in 2023.
In a post covid world there will likely be further discussion over the make-up of the SSE Airtricity League, in a stronger position now than for a number of years, and also the possibility still of an island of Ireland League.
The interest in Irish domestic soccer always extends well beyond the 90 minutes of a match.
Neither club has made any public comment on the potential of a merger.
“A powerful and influential network of information and collaboration”
Download our latest membership brochure here.
Sport for Business Partners
[logocarousel id=
