Kilkenny city soccer club celebrate 75th anniversary in style

Kilkenny City soccer club Freebooters AFC celebrated the 75th anniversary of its foundation this year.

Founded by a small group of likeminded individuals, three of whom worked at the Kilkenny Post Office on High Street - Terry Cullen, Joe Doyle and Michael Mooney ably assisted by John Roberts and Sean Dooley - it is the second oldest soccer club still in existence in Kilkenny.

Like most of the soccer clubs of the time they played at numerous locations around the city but principally at the ’Comer Road, James’s Park and finally at the Fair Green which has become their home base, mainly since the 1970s. In recent years the city club secured a long-term lease on the Fair Green from the Local Authority which has allowed them to develop their home base as a modern Astroturf floodlit facility. Hon Secretary Donagh Cantwell and a hard-working committee are the principal drivers of this project.

The dictionary tells us that a Freebooter is a pirate. The resonance of the name goes back to founder member Mick Mooney, who hailed from Cork and had played with a club called Freebooters there. Thus you could say that he brought the name with him to Kilkenny.

Incidentally, in the year 1950 a horse called Freebooter won the Aintree Grand National at the handsome price of 10/1. This was five years before the club won its first Kilkenny League trophy, the McCalmont Cup in 1955.

However, the Freebooter story goes back to a much earlier time in point of fact 1898. They lost 1-0 to local rivals Shelbourne in the Leinster Cup of 1900. Its highest achievement was reaching the 1901 Irish Cup final at Grosvenor Park, Belfast against the mighty Cliftonville.

Interestingly, Freebooters had beaten Linfield 2-1 in the semi-final at Jones’s Road, now known as Croke Park today. The club resigned from competition and seems to have dissolved about 1906. Shelbourne were to take over Freebooters ground following their demise.

Freebooters players represented Ireland in ‘home’ internationals. Freebooters (Cork), runners-up in the FAI Intermediate Cup in 1949, played in the Cork Business & Shipping League, possibly the connection to the name Freebooter (Pirates). It’s also interesting to note that the legendary Michael ‘Mock’ Lawlor, a native of Talbot Street, Dublin and Kilkenny soccer fame had a great fondness for Shelbourne FC.

Of particular significance is the fact that Joe Doyle, a founding member of the club is still hale and hearty. Joe served in every capacity for Freebooters, firstly as a player, administrator, referee, coach and manager. He also served Kilkenny soccer similarly so including the founding of the Kilkenny Branch of the Irish Soccer Referee’s Society and was virtually singularly responsible for the survival of the local league in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was a great mentor to many younger administrators, including this writer.

A feature of the early years of Freebooters AFC was the biannual trip to Cardiff. The visits to Cardiff by Freebooters and their K&DL colleagues Evergreen to play Canton United and St Mary’s were legendary. On all alternative years the Welsh clubs visited Kilkenny to play the city clubs. More social than serious football occasions, visits to Doherty’s, Brennan’s and T’s Bar became more famous than the Fair Green!

Freebooters have had tremendous success in the Kilkenny & District League winning every trophy available to them on many multiple of occasions especially League titles, McCalmont Cups and Maher Shields as well as numerous underage cups and leagues.

However, pride of place will no doubt go to their hat trick of wins in the Leinster Junior Cup in 1999, 2002 and 2008. The club has also had tremendous success across all levels of the game at schoolboy and youths levels, including the Leinster Youths Cup in 2019 and 2020.

The club has had a lean time of it of late on the junior front but their main focus has been the development of their home base at the Fair Green. They now have two Astroturf playing pitches, floodlights and plans are afoot to extend the dressing room facilities.

The club has had a myriad of great administrators - too many to mention - and has given fantastic service to the local game.

Many of their players have played crucial roles in the success of Kilkenny teams at national level over the years.

Plans are afoot by the club to develop their pavilion facilities at the Fair Green to mark their 75th anniversary. It is intended to mount a limestone plaque at the pavilion to commemorate the memory of the founder members of the club later this year.

Sadly many of the founder members have gone to their eternal reward including a man who joined the club shortly after their foundation, Michael ‘Mock’ Lawlor.

Here’s looking forward to the centenary of Freebooters AFC!