Bohemians offer fans the chance to buy a piece of Dalymount Park history

THESE ARE TESTING times for League of Ireland clubs, and many have had to come up with novel ways to bring in funds during the lockdown. 

Bohemian FC are offering supporters the chance to buy a piece of history. 

Dalymount Park, the spiritual home of Irish football, is set to be redeveloped in the coming years and the Jodi Stand will be demolished. 

A new initiative allows fans to purchase a brick from the dressing room, priced at €59 each. The brick will be placed in a period-branded presentation box for collection once the stand is knocked down. 

Maurice O'Driscoll goes past Bixente Lizarazu and Zinedine Zidane of Bordeaux.Source: Bohemian FC

“If walls could talk…” the Bohs statement reads. “Dalymount has been at the centre of football in Ireland since 1901, in the heart of an ever-changing city for almost 120 years.

“From its first International game in 1904 when Ireland played as a united island, countless FAI Cup finals, Dublin’s first music festivals with Thin Lizzy and Bob Marley, famous Bohemian European nights and players like Zidane, Pele, Jameson, Van Basten, Brady, Best, Crowe, to the proud hub of the Dublin 7 community it is today, which most recently hosted the Frank Lampard’s first ever game as Chelsea manager.

“Dalymount, like Bohemian FC, has a very long, proud and much-admired history that has been intrinsically linked with the fortunes of the game, as well as the cultural history of the city and the nation.

Originally a vegetable plot known as ‘Pisser Dignam’s Field’, by the 1930s it had been transformed thanks to the club’s enterprising membership and world famous stadium architect Archibald Leitch. In its golden years, it saw crowds of over 45,000.

“In the near future, Dalymount will see the biggest change in its history. With Government support the stadium will be totally transformed, bringing a modern new appearance to meet the needs of Bohemians and Dubliners alike for the next 100 years.

“In advance of this, we are offering something very special, the bricks of the original dressing rooms, which have been structurally unaltered since 1935 (the Jodi stand was built over them in 1999).”