Cobh Ramblers

Cobh Ramblers Football Club (CRFC) (Irish: Cumann Peile Chostoiri Chobh) is an Irish football club. The club, founded in 1922 and elected to the League of Ireland in 1985, hails from Cobh, County Cork and play their home matches at St. Colman's Park. The club's colours are claret and blue. The club was a founding member of the Cork Athletic Union League in 1947 and is the only one of the 14 founding clubs still in existence today.

History

Cobh Ramblers was originally a field hockey club, and until the British withdrawal from Ireland, many club members played football with the British Army soldiers who were stationed at Cobh. This led to the re-formation of Cobh Ramblers as a football club.

Founded in 1922, Cobh Ramblers Football Club first won the Munster Senior Cup in 1925. Additional (provincial) Munster Senior Cup titles were captured in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1970s.

At a national level, the club played in the 1976 FAI League Cup, reaching the semi finals.

Cobh Ramblers joined the League of Ireland in 1985, after many years as a Munster Senior League side. One of the most successful of those teams was the team of 1983, who got to the semi final of the FAI Cup humbling many senior clubs on the way. They met Sligo Rovers in the semi-final that year and captured the imagination of the Irish footballing public, drawing crowds of over 20,000 to Flower Lodge for the home games as St Colmans Park was too small. There were 3 replays until Sligo finally won 3–2 and went on to win the Cup.

Cobh won promotion to the Premier Division in 1988, after finishing First Division runners-up to Athlone Town. Lasting just one season in the top flight, they won promotion again at the end of the 1992–93 season, this time as runners-up to Galway United. A play-off win over Finn Harps saw Ramblers retain their Premier Division status at the end of the 1993–94 season, but the club were relegated in second-last place the following year.

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