The Board of Cobh Ramblers FC are keen to keep our members, volunteers, players and supporters up to date with current affairs and events that the club have planned in the coming weeks.

At this time of writing we hope that you are all well and we hope that this mid-season review will be insightful and encouraging.

Currently the new board of Cobh Ramblers FC have been in place for approximately 3 months. While in place we have continued to try to stabilise and gain efficiencies in all areas of the club.

As you are all aware, to say it has been difficult would be an understatement. We continue to face the challenges of running a League of Ireland club on a day to day basis, but this is a challenge we embrace nonetheless. We continue with a proactive approach and a lot of hard work has been completed behind the scenes.

In the last number of days Stephen Henderson has made the decision to resign his position as first team manager and leave the club. Stephen’s reign ended with a superb 2-1 victory over Galway United. We would like to once again convey our thanks to Stephen for all that he has done for our club. During his second spell with the club, we were treated to a Munster Senior Cup victory, as well as play-off runs and our memorable run to the EA Sports Cup final last year where we beat Dundalk in the semi-finals before narrowly losing to Derry in the final. We wish Stephen well in his future endeavours and no doubt our paths will cross again in the future.

We have announced that the club has appointed an Interim Management Team in Stuart Ashton, Declan Coleman and James Claffey who will take responsibility for first team matters. We would like to thank Stuart, Dec and James for stepping in and wish them the very best of luck in the role.

The process to find a permanent replacement for Stephen Henderson will begin in the next few weeks. The club will engage in a thorough recruitment process to find the ideal candidate.

As a club we continue to fire fight on a day to day basis. With over 120 players and coaches
across five national league teams between academy and senior level, this brings its fair share of difficulties and challenges in funding the running costs of the club. Without a doubt this club is a business and we strive to make it sustainable and successful.

Due to numerous factors, we currently face ongoing cash flow issues on a weekly basis and in the past few weeks this has resulted in a playing budget cut of approximately 25%. We give our sincere thanks to all individuals affected for their understanding and commitment to the club.

So what can we do to help us alleviate these issues and how can we improve our cash flow situation? We simply work harder, get more volunteers involved, continue to plan fundraising events and monitor our costs. All fundraising/social events planned in the coming months, in addition to any sponsorship received, are critical to help sustain this great club.

We currently have the following fundraising events in process or planned:
Scrap Metal Skip – We currently have a skip on site that will take all metals/steel and copper. Please feel free to dump any unwanted metals in this skip.

Cobh Ramblers 7’s & Sports and Social Club BBQ – On Saturday June 15th the first Cobh Ramblers 7’s tournament in partnership with Cobh Ramblers Sports and Social Club BBQ Day took place in the club grounds. This consisted of a football tournament throughout the duration of the day with an ongoing BBQ, live entertainment and Bouncing Castles/face painters to keep the kids occupied. Our champions on the day were The Cons who defeated Mean Machine in the final. The event was a huge success for the club and we thank all attendees on the day for their valued support and contribution.

Cobh Ramblers Bingo – Every Thursday night our social club continue to operate Bingo. We would encourage anybody interested to come along and enjoy the great atmosphere in our lounge on Thursday nights and hopefully go home with some winnings. All bingo books are available to buy on the night.

Cobh Ramblers Cooperative Society Lotto – We are currently looking at re-branding our club lotto and merging the current two draws we have within the club into one. Cobh Ramblers Co-operative Society Lotto, which will see the amalgamation of the current two lotto’s in existence, further details to be clarified in due course.

Academy Race Night – Friday June 28th, at 8pm in the clubhouse we will have a race night for the club’s academy teams to help aid with the running costs of the teams for the remainder of the season. We are currently looking for sponsors for each race at a cost of €50, €100 for the 9th race which will be an auction. All horse and jockey sponsorships are €5. If interested, please contact any club official. Why not join us and get a few winners on the night!

Sports and Social Summer Table Quiz – On Friday 5th of July our colleagues in the sports and social club will be running a summer table quiz with plenty of prizes to be won on the night. Further details will be released in due course.

Club Car Wash – Saturday 6th of July we will have our club car wash at Ticknock service station in association with the Irish Youth Foundation and we will also be making a contribution to our club charity partners the Cope Foundation. On the day there will also be a kids football competition and all entrants that get a car wash at a cost of €10 will be in with a shout of winning several prizes including an overnight stay for two in Fota Island Resort.

Clann Eireann (Irish Trad Band) – Saturday Night 6th of July why not come and join us in the clubhouse for what’s guaranteed to be a fantastic evening with well-known Irish trad band Clann Eireann. There will be no cover charge on the night so sit back relax and get the dancing shoes on!

Joe Dolan Tribute Night – Friday 26th July our colleagues in the Sports and Social Club have confirmed to us that due to popular demand a Joe Dolan tribute night will take place. Ticket information to become available in due course at a cost of €5 per person. As they say “There is no show like a Joe show” so come on down and enjoy a great night’s entertainment.

New HD Projector and Big Screen – As you may have seen across our Social Media Channels, with the assistance of those in the Sports and Social Club we have recently acquired a new state of the art projector and big screen for the Lounge. This was put into action for the first time on Saturday 1st June for the Champions League Final between Spurs and Liverpool. This was a huge success and bodes very well for us for future events as the feedback received by those in attendance was extremely positive.

Golf Classic – The organising details of this year’s golf classic are now being discussed with
the event likely to happen in August/September. Further details to follow.

Sponsorship – We are always on the lookout for new sponsors and partners to come on board with the club. If you know of any company who might be interested in sponsoring a game, a player or availing of pitch side advertising then please get in touch.

To date as a committee, we have successfully had all match night games sponsored and currently have two games still to be filled for the remainder of the season. To put into context, on our appointment to the board we had no match night sponsors lined up for any game this season, However we are now working to having all games sponsored. We thank all current sponsors for their continued support of the club.

With all of the above in mind the workload will be demanding and will go hand in hand with the day to day running of the club. If any member/supporter or volunteer feels they can offer their services or ideas to help in any way, we would be extremely grateful if you came forward.

Finally, the club can now officially announce that its official CO-OP registration has now been granted. As previously agreed with the members the club is now a cooperative society. An official launch of the co-op is due on Sunday 30th June at 3pm in the clubhouse in which we will accept applications for membership and this is an opportunity for anyone to become a part owner of the club. This is a huge step for the club and opens a number of potential income avenues in which the board will explore over the coming months.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all players, members, volunteers and supporters for their continuous support and hard work. We especially wish to acknowledge those in the Sports and Social club who have devoted many hours of dedication to numerous tasks within the club over the last few months and their help has been invaluable.

We continue to strive for the highest standards and continue to make our club become as strong as ever before. In the coming weeks and onths we will be organising an information meeting as agreed at the previous AGM to give an overview of current club affairs and the financial position of the club. We as always will be fully transparent on all actions we take as a club.

We would encourage all locals, residents of East Cork and Cork city/county to come and support our young team for the remainder of the season.

This is your club, your town and while we know it will take time and plenty of hard work, we will strive to make our club sustainable and successful moving into the future.

Yours in sport,
The Board of Cobh Ramblers