Cork Supporters Defy the Storm

4th Feb 2008

Cork Supporters Defy the Storm (click here for video clip)
Finbarr Barry

A major blow to the County Board came on Monday evening when hundreds of Cork supporters took to the streets of the city in horrendous weather conditions to show their support for the our hurlers and footballers.

Organised just 20 hours earlier by Thomas 'Bomber' Roche, a well known Cork GAA supporter, the gathering began under the sheltered canopy of Mulligans Bar on Parnell Place. Moments before 7.30pm only 60 people had assembled but by 7.45pm hundreds of supporters were emerging from parked cars, doorways and busses to lend their support.

The weather had to be seen to be believed. Water didn't just drip from people's heads but poured, as the cold wind whipped it up under umbrellas with many breaking when confronted with the unpredictable squally gusts on Merchant's Quay.

Chants of 'Rebels Rebels!' and more worryingly for the county board's chairman 'Frank Murphy Out' echoed around the street. The Irish Free State broadcaster, RTE appeared in the form of Kerry's Pascal Sheehy who grilled supporters about their cause. He provoked uproar among fans within earshot by suggesting to one interviewee that there were barely 150 people assembled when clearly the number was a multiple of that as fans kept stepping off buses 50 yards away outside TSB bank.

The marchers, led by well known Cork supporters, a pipe player, flag bearers and drummers led the throngs up to Merchant's Quay where taxi men and bus drivers blew their horns in support. Large crowds from around the county including Fermoy, Mitchelstown and Mallow made the journey despite rain battering the Rebel County.

The march concluded outside the Imperial Hotel on South Mall where Bomber Roche made an emotional fiery speech from on high to all those assembled followed by a verse of De Banks in which the masses dutifully joined.

What happened next was an unexpected and startling sign of the hardening attitude of Cork fans, poorly reported (in some cases completely denied) by many media outlets.

Following the conclusion of De Banks and (without provocation, it should be added, from the speakers assembled at the top of the steps to the left of the hotel) came the chant which may provoke an end to the long running saga "Holland Out! Holland Out!".

If hundreds of fans are willing to brave brutal weather conditions with just a few hours notice on a Monday night in February to show their support for the players, one must draw logical conclusions about the true extent of sentiment in the county.

Drenched, sodden and sneezing the real Rebels dispersed to the sanctity of their homes, lemsips and inevitable pneumonia - their duty to Cork done. Supporters of the players now await the response from the defenders of the Cork County Board and details of their own march of support/protest.