League of Ireland clubs wouldn’t survive without volunteers working behind the scenes. Some clubs rely on volunteers more than others, while a few clubs operate entirely on a volunteer principle, with the players and coaching staff the only wage-earning employees. This is in part driven by financial necessity, and it is also a measure of how popular the local club is with some fans, that they are willing to give up their time, energy and in some cases resources and expertise to keep the show on the road.
Over the years at Bray I have helped out occasionally on match days, in a variety of roles. I’ve operated turnstiles, sold programmes, sold tea, coffee and sweets, sold merchandise in the club shop, sold raffle tickets and helped with the half-time entertainment. A volunteer is only one of many, part of a small army of dedicated volunteers at their club, and this small army is part of a larger one that encompasses similar bands of loyal helpers up and down the country at the other grounds.
Volunteering isn’t restricted to match day. If the club can afford to have a groundsman and kitman on the payroll that is great; if not these tasks are done by volunteers during the week before and after games. It’s a similar story with office tasks and areas like advertising and marketing.
The fastest growing sport in Ireland isn’t soccer unfortunately, it is the parkrun phenomenon. There are parallels with League of Ireland though. From a standing start in 2012 there are now more than 30 parkruns around the country, where people can come on a Saturday morning and run a 5K timed race for free. No money is needed, the investment is in your health. Parkrun takes a leaf out of the League of Ireland book in terms of the volunteer principle. It is run entirely on volunteer principles and all the marshalling, timing, pacing, set-up and close-down is done by volunteers. Not to mention all the statistical work behind the scenes capturing and sorting race results so that each runner has their own individual database. A labour of love for those involved, just like the League of Ireland.
Bray certainly needed all their volunteers out in force on Saturday night last 05 March as we entertained champions Dundalk in our season opener at the Carlisle Grounds. Although we went down 3-1 it was an entertaining game and the atmosphere was great, with a large crowd in attendance despite it being a freezing cold night and the latter part of Leicester City’s game overlapping with the early part of ours. This was encouraging. Bray have a largely new squad and they look useful; maybe a few games under their belt are needed to bed everyone in and get things to gel.
Written by Brian Quigley
Well said Brian and it was done in rain and sunshine