This has been a hard season on and off the pitch for Dundalk FC this year, the Peak6 circus continues with takeover talks taking place between Peak6 and two consortiums, one of those being a local group comprising of StatsSports and previous owner Andy Connolly, the other comprising of Glentoran primary investor Ali Pour and other investors.
As fans started to dig further and further into the new possible owners it became clear that one of them had a more checkered past than the other, it quickly became evident which option the fanbase wanted, and being a club that has always belonged to the local community the StatsSports option became a fan favorite.
On Wednesday this week the club finally figured out how to issue a statement, it’s been long coming, the silence has been deafening, we started to read the first ‘statement’ from the club in about three months, what could this statement contain?.
My god!, has this club not learned anything? The statement declared that anyone in possession of a pyrotechnic, a flare, a firework or similar objects, will face a lifetime ban from Oriel Park.
Dundalk FC decided that instead of working with the fans, moreso the Shed side Army, the group of supporters who make the amazing atmosphere within Oriel Park, the club decided to go head to head with them, to take them on in a defiant move that would not just backfire, but spectacularly at that!
While the feedback from the fans to the first statement released by the club in about three months was of bafflement and head scratching this was only the first move by the club towards the Shed Side Army.
Before I continue I need to put this in to context, the Shed Side Army are a group of supporters who make all the banners that are shown during matches in Oriel, they also use pyrotechnics to create an intimidating atmosphere home and away, that atmosphere has been called the ’12th man’ by the club since the return of fans to grounds recently.
Over the last ten years the club has allowed the Shed Side Army to use the Youth Development Centre to store their equipment for creating these banners, this agreement was in place during the previous ownerships without any objections, until now.
Let me continue.
On Thursday night the Shed Side Army released a statement.
The club had decided to remove all the equipment owned and purchased by the Shed Side Army from the Youth Development Centre without any notice. A disgraceful move by the club and one they would soon come to regret.
This set the stage for an interesting face off on Friday night.
Friday Night, Dundalk faced Waterford in a relegation six pointer with both sides on 39 points but separated by goal difference, with four games remaining for Dundalk this was a must win game, but all eyes were on the fans. With security staff and Garda personnel on hand at Oriel to search all fans entering the ground, though some fans were ushered through unsearched the main focus was clearly on the Shed Side Army lads and seizing their flares.
As the fans poured into the ground and kick off neared, the focus turned to the shed, something was going to happen, as the teams entered the field a banner was raised with the words, “And the lifetime ban goes too…….Fuck your statement”, flares lit up the shed and fireworks lit up the night sky over Oriel Park, clearly the statement didn’t work, the fans were sending a message to the owners……Fuck your statement.
Chants of “Peak6 Out”, “We want our club back” and “Give the club to StatsSports” rang out from the shed, if the owners didn’t know how angry the fans were over the last six months, they did now.
The club are losing a battle that they started and it’s the wrong path to be taking, trying to isolate one of the main supporters groups and tell them they will be banned from Oriel Park for lighting flares, images of which the club has happily promoted for years on their social media by the way, seems like the incorrect course of action to take.
Dundalk aren’t the only club in the League of Ireland to use flares or other pyrotechnics but the FAI insists on issuing fines to clubs for the use of them within the grounds, maybe it’s time the FAI thought different on this issue, by the way the League authorities and the FAI are happy to promote these images on their social media also, there is a hypocrisy to all of this, either denounce the use of these pyrotechnics completely and dont promote them at all or embrace them and enforce safety guidelines for their safe use around our grounds.
Dundalk FC need to start talking with the supporters again, they need to start getting us back on side, I said in the past that we haven’t gone away and we haven’t, we still want what’s best for our club, but don’t try and ban the majority of those who create the atmosphere in Oriel, embrace them, the new owners whoever they maybe should take note, the Shed Side Army are here to stay and they have been here alot longer than they have, work with the supporters don’t isolate us, if you pick a fight with one of us you need to be ready to take us all on.
At the moment our club has lost its way, last night and the last week has shown that but the fans will always stick with this club, no matter what, but keeping the ownership of this club local is imperative.
The fans have spoken, it’s time to listen to us.
End.