Rovers ‘till I Die’: the faces and voices of match day volunteers at Shamrock Rovers FC is a collection of photographic portraits of 15 match day volunteers and their experiences with the football club. The exhibition can be viewed in TU Dublin Library on the Tallaght campus.
The Shamrock Rovers in the Community Research Project was initiated by researchers Dr Glenn Doyle, Anna-Maria Mullally and Alan Fitzpatrick from the School of Media, TU Dublin towards the end of 2023. The intention of the project was for the team of academics to collectively explore the social and cultural impact that Shamrock Rovers Football Club were having in the community of Tallaght since the clubs move to the area in 2009.
In conjunction with South Dublin County Council, Shamrock Rovers Football Club and the research team the Shamrock Rovers in the Community Symposium was held in Tallaght Stadium on December 7th 2024.
As well as presentations and talks from associated staff, players and board members from the football club, representatives from South Dublin County Council and academic staff, students and graduates from the Media Production & Digital Arts programme the symposium also hosted an exhibition of photographic portraits of volunteers for the football club.
Dr Glenn Doyle’s research and photographic practice, while acknowledging the 2023 Irish Sports Monitor Reports statement that “sports clubs and volunteers are the lifeblood of Irish Sports” is positioned from a more local level. The project aims to document the motivations and roles undertaken by those who actively volunteer and contribute to a Shamrock Rovers match day experience. The collections documenting of 15 volunteers in 2024 was symbolic of the 15 years the club had played their home games in Tallaght Stadium following 22 years of not having a ‘home ground’ since 1987.
With non-participatory involvement in Irish sport progressing back to pre-pandemic levels, 11% (approximately 462,000) and 12% (465,000) respectively, Dr Doyle deemed it appropriate to platform the activities of individual volunteers and the benefits their contribution has for the Football Club, the wider Shamrock Rovers Community and the individual volunteers themselves.
Through a method of photographic documentation aligned with audio recorded testimonies, accessible through accompanying QR codes the research provides both a face and a voice (literally) to some of those individuals who actively volunteer for the football club and contribute to the match day experience. This approach facilitates the communication of an emotion and passion evident among the volunteers for what they see as ‘their club’, in a way that can be challenging to communicate if not directly from the participant.
Dr Doyle would like to extend appropriate thanks to all those participating volunteers, Mark Lynch at Shamrock Rovers FC and Linda Bennett, Sarah Anne Kennedy and Ann Marie Barrett from TU Dublin library Services for facilitating the exhibition, and Luke Ryan from the School of Media for his technical support when printing the photographs.