Bohemians and Cork City will have two employees each
The Football Association of Ireland have today announced the four employees that will work as part of the More Than A Club project.
Bohemians and Cork City will both have two full-time staff that will work developing links within their own communities.
The More Than A Club project is supported by the Ireland Wales 2014-2020 European Territorial Co-Operation programme, which is helping to strengthen collaboration between Ireland and Wales to address common economic and social challenges.
FAI CEO John Delaney was on hand at the FAI Headquarters to welcome the Bohemians and Cork City More Than A Club Football Enterprise Coordinators Carina O’Brien and Erika Ni Thuama, along with the Assistant Coordinators Shane Fox and Christopher McDermott.
“The partnership between the Football Association of Ireland, Bohemians, Cork City and Vi-Ability can create a model for clubs to become more sustainable in their communities”, Delaney added.
“I would like to congratulate the two clubs on being chosen for the project and look forward to see their work in their communities in Dublin and Cork.”
FAI Project Manager Derek O’Neill added; “Participating in innovative community partnerships can enable a club to become more relevant to more people within the community and positively affect their prospects of sustainability and growth.”
‘The FAI and Welsh project partners, Vi-Ability are delighted to have secured funding from the Ireland Wales programme to support football clubs to engage with community stakeholders to develop and deliver important social programmes. We hope the social enterprise model that will be developed in cooperation our Welsh partners will enable Bohemian FC and Cork City FC and their Welsh counterpart clubs to produce a flagship model which other Irish and Welsh football clubs can look to emulate.”
Bohemians’ Football Enterprise Coordinator Carina O’Brien said: “We are really looking forward to the opportunity to get Bohemians more embedded into the fabric of the community of the northside in Dublin.”
Cork City’s Football Enterprise Coordinator Erika Ni Thuama added: “From our point of view, the local community came together to save the club. This is now a great opportunity for the club to give back to the community.”
All four take up their roles immediately with the two clubs.