FRIENDS First have announced their sponsorship of the Cabinteely FC Senior Team.
The team has recently joined the SSE Airtricity League of Ireland 1st Division and have so far enjoyed a strong start to their season.
The sponsorship includes on arm jersey branding as well as pitchside advertising in Stradbrook, where the team plays its home matches.
Cabinteely FC is the first team from the Borough of Dun Laoghaire to play at this level and it means that players now have a pathway right through to senior football. The club is now the largest football club in the country by player numbers and is very proud of its tradition as a community club.
According to the club’s website, 80 years ago the team was not even known as Cabinteely, but rather they were commonly called ‘the Blues from Cabinteely’.
In 1939, they won the Schoolboys League Cup with gate receipts for that cup final coming in at £180. With general admission prices at about €0.03 in today’s money, that indicates a crowd of about 6,000.
The most famous Cabinteely side included Peter Farrell who scored the second goal when Ireland became the first country to beat England at home in 1949 and later went on to captain Ireland.
The Blues changed their name to Cabinteely Boys around 1950 and the current club was formed in 1967, as Auburn FC, and began league football with only one team. In 1973 the club was renamed Cabinteely Boys FC.
The name was more recently changed to Cabinteely FC to reflect both the numbers of individual girl members and its excellent ladies’ teams.
Fast forward to today and there are now 55 teams. This is a mixture of school-boy teams, school-girl teams, a special needs team, a ladies team and now the first ever League of Ireland team.
Commenting on the sponsorship, Tom Browne, CEO with Friends First, said: “As a leading business in the area, we are very excited to be involved with Cabinteely FC as they enter this historic new chapter in their history.
“Supporting an enthusiastic and developing local club is central to our community ethos and we wish players, supporters and everyone involved the very best for the challenge ahead.”