The idea for the Shamrock Rovers Community Foundation grew from a series of discussions that Ciaran Kane (Members Club / Football Club Director) and Steven Gray (Head of Education with Shamrock Rovers Academy) had with several football club foundations in the UK, including Celtic, Aberdeen, Hearts, Liverpool, and Everton. Two key themes coming from these discussions were the power of well-known local institutions such as football clubs to make a meaningful impact in local communities and “Doing the Right Thing for the Right Reasons” i.e. not looking for spin-off benefits for the football club.

Further discussions took place with local community representatives in the Tallaght area across a range of disciplines. This helped identify the areas where a foundation linked to Shamrock Rovers could make a significant impact in the local area. In order to maximise the impact of the Foundation, it will be established as a registered charity – which will also enable it to access a range of public and private funding sources not currently available to any existing community initiative run by the football club.

The next, and most time-consuming part of the project was preparing an application for the Charities Regulator – a very detailed piece of work with a large volume of information required. This application is currently being reviewed and processed by the regulator, and it is hoped that it will be approved early in the new year.

When operational, the Community Foundation will make a real contribution to the local Tallaght community through funding and managing a range of projects, mainly focused on young people. It will also play a central role in the new childcare scheme that the Academy will manage, further increasing contact hours for our young players. There will be ample opportunities for supporters of the Club to get involved as volunteers once the Foundation is launched (some have already put their hands up – thank you).

An overview of the Foundation was presented by Ciaran at the Rovers in the Community Symposium in Tallaght Stadium on Saturday.