Bohemian F.C.
Bohemian Football Club, more commonly referred to as Bohemians or Bohs, is an Irish professional association football club based in Dublin. Bohemians compete in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. Bohs are the fourth-most successful club in League of Ireland football history, having won the League of Ireland title 11 times, the FAI Cup seven times, the League of Ireland Shield six times. and the League of Ireland Cup three times. Prior to the establishment of the Football Association of Ireland and League of Ireland, Bohemians competed in the Irish Football League and Irish Cup, which were then all-Ireland competitions. During that period, they won the Irish Cup once and finished runners-up five times. They hold the record for Leinster Senior Cup wins with 33 cups claimed.
Bohemians were founded by members of Bell's Academy, the Royal Hibernian Military School, medical students and others, on 6 September 1890 in the Phoenix Park Gate Lodge beside the North Circular Road entrance and played its first games in the Park's Polo Grounds. They were one of the founding members of the League of Ireland in 1921, after their withdrawal from the Irish Football League. They established themselves as a major force within the first 15 years of the League of Ireland, winning five league titles, two FAI Cups, and four Shields, but struggled for decades after that, largely due to their strict amateur status, going 34 seasons without winning a major trophy.
Bohemians dropped their amateur ethos in 1969 and won two League titles, two FAI Cups, and two League cups during the 1970s. They suffered further decline throughout the 1980s and most of the 1990s before claiming League and Cup doubles in 2001 and 2008, alongside the 2003 and most recently 2009 title wins. They are the only club to have won all four domestic trophy "doubles" available in Irish football history.
Bohemians play their home matches at Dalymount Park in Phibsborough on the northside of Dublin. They are owned 100% by the members of the club. Their club colours are red and black, which they adopted 1894. Bohemians supporters often refer to their club by a number of nicknames including Bohs, The Gypsies, and Dublin's Originals, and provide one half of a bitter rivalry with southside club, Shamrock Rovers. Since the 2010s, Bohemians have adopted a left-wing political culture at the club.
History
Bohemians were founded on 6 September 1890 at the Phoenix Park's North Circular Gate Lodge by students from Bells Academy, a civil service college, and the Hibernian Military School. The club initially played their home games at the Polo Grounds in the Phoenix Park before moving to Jones Road in 1893. The following year, Bohemians adopted red and black as their club colours having previously played in white shirts with two red stripes. They became the first Dublin club to join the Irish Football League in 1902 and were members from 1902 to 1911 and from 1912 to 1920. During this time the club's greatest success was winning the Irish Cup in 1908.File:Gatelodge.jpg|thumb|left| A commemorative plaque to honour the founding of Bohemians and the gate lodge leading onto the North Circular Road in the Phoenix Park.
It was a founding member of the League of Ireland in 1921, and it is one of only two clubs to have been members of the League of Ireland since its inception, and it is the only club to have been ever-present in the top division of the league. In its first season it finished second in the league, just two points behind St. James Gate. The club won its first league title in 1924. In 1928 the club won its second league title and completed a double that season by winning its first FAI Cup also. The club was one of the major forces in the early years of the league, going on to win another three league titles and another FAI Cup in the next eight seasons. It was also during this period that a sister club, Bohemian Queens, was founded in Queens, New York in the 1920s by former Bohemian FC players who had emigrated to the United States.
After this success, Bohemian FC began to struggle, often finishing at the foot of the league and rarely mounting a title challenge, largely because of an inability to attract or keep top players due to its strict amateur status, which had been a fundamental part of the club since its formation. The club went 34 seasons without winning a major trophy. In 1969 the club ended its amateur status, and the first player to sign professional terms was Tony O'Connell, who signed on 11 March 1969.
The club then went on to win two league titles, two FAI Cups and two league cups in the 1970s, more trophies than any other club that decade. In 1970 the club entered European competition for the first time where it was beaten in the first qualifying round of the European Cup Winners' Cup. The club went through another trophy-less spell after its 1979 league cup victory, which was not broken until the club won its fifth FAI Cup in 1992.
It was not until 2001 that it regained the league title, also winning the FAI Cup that season to complete its second double. After adding another league title in 2003, Bohemians triumphed once again in 2008, under Pat Fenlon, winning the double of both the league for the tenth time with four league games still to play, and the FAI cup in a penalty shoot-out.
In September 2009, Bohemians claimed the League Cup for the third time in the club's history with a 3–1 win over Waterford United in the final.
On 6 November 2009, Bohemians retained the title after a 1–1 draw against Bray Wanderers. They were already assured of the league title before the final round of matches as they held a three-point lead and 16-goal difference advantage over their nearest rivals Shamrock Rovers. Captain Owen Heary collected the Premier Division trophy for the club's first back-to-back league win. Bohs narrowly missed out on a hat trick of league titles on goal difference in 2010 in a season which also saw them suffer European disappointment at the hands of Welsh club TNS.
Stadiums
Bohemians' first home ground was the Polo Grounds in the Phoenix Park. Goal posts and other equipment were kept at the park's gate lodge on North Circular Road which also doubled as a dressing room. They remained there until the 1893–94 season when they obtained a private ground on Jones Road, later known as Croke Park, the headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The space then took in the ground previously occupied by the Old Belvedere playing pitches and now occupied by the Cusack Stand. For the first time it was possible for the club to build up some sort of finances, since a charge for admission was made at all important home matches.They moved to a new home at Whitehall Farm, Glasnevin, in time for the start of the 1895–96 season but in those days, the area was out of the way and without public transport so the Bohemian committee continued to look for a new home ground.
Dalymount Park
Their search came to an end when they moved to Dalymount Park which was officially opened on 7 September 1901. The first match was played between Bohemians and Shelbourne F.C. and a crowd of 3,000 saw a 4–2 victory for Bohs.A crowd of 6,000 spectators witnessed the first Irish Cup final to be staged at Dalymount Park as Distillery overcame Bohemians by three goals to one in 1903. Shelbourne become the first Dublin side to win the cup in 1906 when they defeated Belfast Celtic at Dalymount by two goals to nil.
In 1988, the club nearly sold Dalymount to the FAI due to financial difficulties, but the club survived and held onto the stadium. In 1999, the club unveiled the near 3,000 seater Jodi Stand. In 2003, a deal was agreed to sell the Tramway End to the owner of the Phibsboro Shopping Centre, a property company named Albion.
In 2006 the club's members twice voted to sell Dalymount Park; first to Andorey Developments in May and then again in September, this time to property developer Liam Carroll. Both offers included the development of a new 10,000-capacity stadium elsewhere in Dublin. The Carroll deal was worth a reported €65,000,000 although then board members refused to allow members to see the details of the deal. This deal included the development of a new 10,000-seater stadium in Harristown near Dublin Airport. However, Albion objected to the sale based on their claim to ownership of the Tramway End. Bohemians maintained that the 2003 purchase had not been finalised but, on 7 November 2008, the club lost a court case against Albion Properties Ltd over legal ownership of the stand. it was discovered that the board, led by Gerry Cuffe and Gerry Conway, had attempted to re-sell part of the ground which the club no longer owned, which has had the effect of putting the move on hold long enough for the property market to collapse and the deal to be all but dead.
In March 2015, the local authority Dublin City Council agreed to purchase Dalymount Park. The city council completed the purchase in June 2015 for €3.8 million. In February 2016, DCC published plans to demolish and rebuild Dalymount on a phased basis at a cost of €20 million. In October 2022, the city council published its updated redevelopment plans, with a proposed capacity of 7,880 and a completion date of 2026. It is likely that Bohemians would need to play elsewhere during redevelopment.
In 2023, the club unveiled a new terrace stand at the club, named the "Mono Stand" in tribute to Derek "Mono" Monaghan, a long-time supporter and volunteer at the club who died in 2022.
European record
Although they did not make their first appearance in European competition until 1970, they have, like all Irish clubs, found the going tough in Europe, but they have had some famous successes too. Their finest hour came when they eliminated Scottish Premier League club Aberdeen from the UEFA Cup in August 2000. That triumph was set up by a dramatic 2–1 victory away from home, in which Bohs scored 2 late goals to overturn a 1–0 deficit. That was the first time an Irish club defeated British opposition away from home in European competition. Other notable results include wins against Rangers and Kaiserslautern and draws against Rangers, Newcastle United, Sporting CP, Dundee United and Aberdeen. In all, they have beaten a total of 11 different teams, from 9 countries. Bohs bowed out of the 2008 Intertoto Cup on away goals to Latvian side FK Riga despite winning the second leg 2–1. Earlier in that campaign they recorded their biggest single leg and aggregate wins in Europe.Bohemians started their 2009–10 UEFA Champions League campaign away to Austrian Bundesliga champions Red Bull Salzburg on 16 July 2009 with a 1–1 draw in Salzburg.
In the second leg on 22 July 2009, Bohemians held out until an 87th-minute goal by Patrik Ježek for Red Bull Salzburg gave them a one-nil victory on the night and two one win on aggregate.
After retaining the league title in 2009, Bohs entered the Champions League again in 2010–11. They were drawn against Welsh side The New Saints in the Second Qualifying Round, and won the first leg 1–0 at Dalymount Park on 13 July 2010. They lost the second leg 4–0 and were eliminated 4–1 on aggregate. Bohs manager Pat Fenlon later labelled the performance as 'disgraceful' and said 'the players let the club, league and country down'. The result was labelled by others as the worst result in Bohs' 40-year European history.
After a nearly a decade away from continental competition, Bohs faced Hungarian opposition in the form of Fehérvár in the 2020-2021 UEFA Europa League qualifiers. The gypsies narrowly missed out by virtue of a penalty shoot-out loss, decided after a solitary one-legged affair was played, due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Bohs entered the inaugural Europa Conference League the year after and consecutively sold out their home matches at Dublin's Aviva Stadium in matches with Stjarnan FC and F91 Dudelange, both home legs ending with famous 3-0 victories.
"Bohs" 2021 European campaign came to end in Thessalonika after defeat to PAOK, when they lost the 3–2 on aggregate, following a heroic win in the first leg at the Aviva Stadium on 3 August, when Scottish winger Ali Coote scored a brace in what has to rank as one of the best ever wins by an Irish team in Europe. The Greek side had just signed ex Dortmund and Manchester United star Shinji Kagawa and had a budget of circa €75M compared to the Bohemian's estimated €750,000. On 12 August the Irish team bowed out of the Europa Conference League Qualification campaign after their fans were denied access to the stadium amid protests from the home fans about Covid restrictions, following a 2–0 defeat on the night in a tense Thessalonika atmosphere.