United fans take the next step

Keith Kelly

MEMBERS of Galway United fans group, the Galway United Supporters Trust (GUST), travelled to Dublin yesterday to outline to FAI officials their plans to launch a new club to play in the Airtricity League First Division in the 2012 season.

Around 150 people attended Sunday night’s meeting, including city councillors Niall McNelis and Billy Cameron, and the Mayor of County Galway, Michael ‘Mogie’ Maher, who all pledged their support for the move by the fans to withdraw their backing for Galway United FC and instead attempt to launch their own club.

Mayor Maher said he was at the meeting as a show of support from the people of County Galway for the move by the fans, and also as a signal that Galway United represented both the city and the county, a fact which a number of people raised on the night.

He also said he would speak to the other elected representatives of Galway County Council in relation to writing a letter of support, or signing a petition, to back the move by GUST, and promised to give whatever help he could to attract sponsorship for the new club, which will be initially called Galway United Supporters Trust FC.

“Galway stretches from Clifden to Portumna, and people must realise and remember that. The people of the county need a club to support, and I am giving you my full backing,” he said.

Cllr McNelis said the five Labour councillors on Galway City Council had sent a fax to the FAI outlining their support for the move by the fans group, while officials from GUST said they had gathered close to 1,000 signatures on a petition in the city over the weekend backing their move to apply for a First Division licence.

The mood was cautious but optimistic at Sunday night’s meeting, with a number of people from the county saying that Galway United was more than a city club, a message which they wanted hammered home with the FAI officials.

Others spoke of the value of having ‘Galway’ in the name of a club, and said while Salthill Devon and Mervue United were progressive, well structured clubs who have both won the right to play in the First Division, they were ‘parish-based’ clubs, and had no attraction to people outside their own catchment areas.

The GUST outlined its manifesto for the new club, including what it titles ‘Six Reasons’ why it should be awarded a licence to compete in the Airtricity League next season: Revenue stream; Cost base; Operational; Fan base; Community ethos; and Values.

Its members say they have shown they are capable of running a club due to their involvement in the day-to-day running of Galway United last season, including having to take tough decisions such as when they released the professional players on the club’s books in June due to financial constraints.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.