Whelan in the years at Home Farm DCU as launch offers the perfect foil to World Cup greed and proves there's hope yet for the great game
The Blue and White Hoops are back and football is standing up to Infantino at last
Cathal Dervan, Editor
League of Ireland great Paul Whelan told a lovely story the other day, one that struck a chord as FIFA’s very own Dark Knight Gianni Infantino saw his plans to turn the World Cup into a cash cow collapse like a deck of cards in a sandstorm.
Paul was talking on the shop floor in the INTERSPORTS Elverys store at the Pavilions shopping centre in Swords as the new Home Farm DCU amalgamation launched their entry into the inaugural FAI National League.
This footballing marriage made in heaven will bring the rich underage footballing heritage of one of Ireland’s most famous nursery clubs and match it with the educational offerings from one of the country’s leading and most innovative third level institutions.
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Lying down on the job…
Home Farm DCU will offer Irish football’s brightest young players a viable alternative to the flight abroad and an opportunity to advance their football careers at the highest level available in Ireland whilst all the time pursuing a degree level education.
This step forward for Irish football, similar to the offering at UCD for many years, is one that excites former FAI staff coach Paul who has already started work as Chief Football Officer with DCU.
It also, and this is where is gets emotional, offers Paul, his son Gavin and his brother Ronnie, the chance to pay homage to dad and granddad Ronnie Whelan Snr, one of the legends of Dublin football and a man who was introduced to the Home Farm ways by his neighbour, the one and only Busby Babe Liam Whelan.
Ronnie Snr’s love for Home Farm was always going to be passed on to his own sons and, as the family had just celebrated the anniversary of his death a fortnight ago, he was at the forefront of their minds at the launch of this new Home Farm project last week.
On the very day that football started to stand up to the greed of Infantino and his venture capital cronies and UEFA launched their own revolution against the vulgarisation of the World Cup, so Paul and Ronnie Whelan spoke fondly of their Da who first brought them to the Whitehall Field of Dreams when they were only five and six.
Like so many Irish grassroots clubs, Home Farm staged World Cup style tournaments to introduce the local kids to the beautiful game. Ronnie Jnr was the first one to take his formative steps in the famous blue and white hoops with his dad by his side. And Paul soon followed, that first visit sparking a love affair that is as alive today as it was almost 60 years ago.
The simplicity of playing for France or Italy or some other World Cup nation with the famous blue and white shirt on your back left its mark on Paul and Ronnie, just as it did with so many others.
As Ronnie suggested, Home Farm ran the most successful academy in Irish football long before Irish football knew what an academy was.
Great coaches like Liam Tuohy, Paddy Hilliard, Gerry Garvan and Ronnie Snr worked with some of the best players in the city and the country, always teaching them to play football and to live life the Home Farm way.
The innocent stories of times long gone, as told by Ronnie and Paul Whelan at the launch last week, were the perfect antidote to the money grabbing mayhem of FIFA and Infantino’s World Cup sell off plans that dominated the news the same day.
But one line stood out above all others. As Paul Whelan, like Ronnie, celebrated the return of the traditional blue and white hoops as the home jersey for the new Home Farm DCU entity, he issued a short but great line that summed up what football should be all about.
“As kids we loved those blue and white shirts, they meant everything to us,” he said. “They were the stuff that dreams were made of, so special to us that we wore those blue and white hoops to bed and dreamed our football dreams in them.”
Simple and sincere words from a man who has been involved in Irish football all his life. And the sort of words that we needed to hear so badly as Infantino ran amok.
Home Farm and the Hoops are back. And Infantino appears to be on the way out. There’s still hope for our beautiful game, the game of the people.
AROUND THE HEADLINES
Cork City’s teen defender Donal O’Connor joining Brentford’s Irish legion for €170,000 - Irish Examiner
Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley warns Albanians are ‘the best we’ve faced yet’ - RTE Sport
Roy Keane watches on as Kerry FC move into play-off places with convincing win over Cobh Ramblers - Irish Independent
The ex-sandwich maker who cycles to Champions League games - BBC Sport
O’Neill hopes Celtic keep Engels and Johnston for Champions League qualifiers - Irish News
Carla Ward seeking new coach as Gary Cronin leaves role with Ireland WNT - Extratime.com
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Home Farm DCU will kick off their first season in the new FAI National League on August 29th when they travel to play Bonagee United in Letterkenny. For Ronnie Whelan, the club launch was a trip down memory lane, for new manager Gavin Peers it was confirmation that the business end of the third tier of the League of Ireland is only around the corner. Editor Cathal Dervan caught up with them both.
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