The Bohemian Foundation will lead the Ireland representation at an international 7-a-side football competition for reformed prisoners in the Netherlands next week.
The trip to Veenhuizen is the result of an evolving five-year relationship between Bohemians and Mountjoy Prison organised through the Foundation.
Bohs have been conducting regular training sessions for prisoners in Mountjoy since 2012.
Thomas Hynes, Community Director at Bohemians and co-founder of the Bohemian Foundation, explains how the relationship started.
Hynes said: “I was working with the Simon Community with St Pat’s (Institution for young offenders, which has since been amalgamated into the Mountjoy Prison Complex) in the area of alcohol and drug rehabilitation.
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“They found out I was involved with Bohemians and asked if the club could help out with bringing in players.
“I said we would see what we could do and over the last five years, it’s grown and grown. We’re in twice a week now.
“Through sport, they’re all on first-name terms, enjoying each other’s company. They can’t wait for Tuesdays and Thursdays to come.
“It relieves a lot of tension around the place and it helps show them there’s light of the end of the tunnel for them when they get out.
“We don’t just play football in the prison and leave it at that. We try to get them involved in local football when they are released – playing and coaching.
“The team that’s representing the Foundation and Ireland at next week’s competition are all people we’ve worked with over the past five years.
“We have nine guys travelling with us to the Netherlands – prisoners who have been released and who have not re-offended for a minimum of two years.”
Donnacha Walsh, Deputy Governor of Mounjoy Prison, adds: “I met Tommy five years ago and told him I’m an avid Cork City supporter.
“He told me about his involvement with Bohs and it started from there.
“It has had a very positive effect. Lads have left here and taken up playing football when they leave and have reintegrated into the community.
“Most importantly, they haven’t returned here. Anybody who doesn’t return to Mountjoy is a job well done.”
This season, it has been the turn of Bohemians first-team players Shane Supple and Oscar Brennan to volunteer their time on behalf of the Foundation.
They have conducted training sessions twice a week – on Tuesdays and Thursdays – for the past 3½ months.
Supple said: “It’s been good craic. We go in every week and we just try to let the lads play.
“They don’t get much time in the yard. They do have other bits to keep them going – work in the kitchen and stuff like that – but the lads say to us that it’s only really when we come in that they get an opportunity to go out and play.
“The more time they have out there is beneficial to them and their mental well-being. It’s a two-way thing too. They’ve taken an interest in us.
“They see our games on the telly, they see us on Soccer Republic.
“Every time you come in on a Tuesday, they’re either praising you or slagging you: ‘Jaysus Shane, that was some save’ or ‘Oscar, what were you doing there?’
“We all know these lads have done something bad. But maybe they’ve just made mistakes and want to rehabilitate themselves.
“The dynamic is interesting, there hasn’t been a bad tackle!
“Hopefully we can play a small part in how they view where they want to be when they get out.
“It’s been going for a number of years now – the lads going over to the tournament in Holland haven’t re-offended.
“In two years’ time, if some of the lads we’ve been involved with in training and coaching this year are in the same position, then it’s been a success.
“It’s small margins, but that’s what it’s all about.”
Brennan, in his first season at Dalymount Park, is studying sports and leisure management at UCD.
He was keen for his college placement to tie in with the work being done by the Foundation.
Brennan has volunteered in a number of areas with the Foundation, including working with YouthReach as well as conducting walking football sessions with people with mental and physical disabilities.
But he was particularly keen to work with Mountjoy Prison and he too is encouraged by the progress made by prisoners over the course of his short time dealing with them.
Brennan said: “I was eager to go in, I wanted to see what it was like and see what way I could help and luckily enough I got the opportunity to do so.
“When we went in first, a lot of the lads didn’t know each other’s names.
“From what I’ve seen, it’s hard to go up when you’re a prisoner and introduce yourself to other lads inside.
“It was a great way of breaking down barriers. Now you can see they’re all socialising with each other. It’s more of a community.”
Last Saturday, the prisoners and the Bohemian Foundation went head-to-head for the Conway Cup, a trophy donated by family of Bohemians members in honour of their father Jimmy Conway Snr.
The Foundation team edged the now-annual game 8-6. The match was attended by the Lord Mayor of Dublin Mícheál Mac Donncha, who was also on hand to present the trophy and medals to both teams at the post-match reception.
Hynes said: “The Conway Cup cemented our relationship with the prison. It gave the prisoners something to look forward to every year.
“But this is the first year it’s been so close, Shane and Oscar must be doing something right in the coaching sessions!”
Having enjoyed the Conway Cup in the Mountjoy training yard, now the prisoners are looking forward to going one step further – playing under lights at Dalymount Park for the Foundation Cup.
Hynes added: “At the end of Bohs’ season, we bring up about 15 prisoners who are on day-release to play a football game against a Foundation team for the Foundation Cup, which has been sponsored by Denis Cruise, who also sponsored the medals on Saturday.
“We play at 5 o’clock so they get to play under the floodlights.
“How that came about was because when I used to come into the prison first, the lads would say to me ‘that sounded like a great match on Friday’ and I couldn’t understand how they knew.
“But from some of the cells, they could see the floodlights on from Dalymount and hear the roar of the crowd.
“It’d nearly break your heart. So I thought we had to do something, so when some of these guys were on day release I said ‘would you like to come up to Dalymount?’
“Through the Prison Service and through Governor Walsh, we organise for the day-release of 15 prisoners, under escort, up to Dalymount.
“Their families aren’t even told when we’re having it. It’s fully behind closed doors but we get a Foundation team out to play them and hopefully give them something to aspire to.”
Luke O’Riordan, Public Relations Director, Bohemian FC
Photos by Stephen Burke
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