Buying gifts is hard! Football fanatics love ‘stuff’, but there are only so many jerseys, programmes, and other memorabilia that you can fit in an average house!
So, what do you get for the football fan who has everything?
Well Irish club Finn Harps FC may have the answer, especially if the lover of the beautiful game in your life is one of the many who are increasingly disillusioned with the excesses of the top level of the sport. From mega agents creaming off huge fees on the transfer of pampered millionaire players between huge corporations with little or no connection to the place, the community, the crest on the shirt of the team the own, there is an antidote.
You can give them a football club!
A proper football club, which is rooted in, and which cares about, its community, in the remote but beautiful northwestern corner of Ireland. A club which makes no sense, whose formation and continued existence is something of an enigma, an anomaly. And yet it does exist, in a town with a population of just over 5,000, nearly 4 hours from Dublin in one of the most economically disadvantaged areas of the Emerald Isle, named after a river and represented by the official emblem of Ireland, the Harp.
And it has existed for over 70 years, unbroken, playing in the League of Ireland where it remains as one of the few remaining fully fan-owned, fan-run clubs. And while the trophy cabinet is sparse (actually, I’m not sure we have a trophy cabinet), this club has enriched lives, made memories and been a focal point for people to connect for a generation.
Highs and lows, and very little in between, has always been the Finn Harps way and their adventures have ranged from inspired to absurd. Now, with a long running new stadium project (going through a cycle of progress and delay), and thriving academy system with 10 underage teams for men and women as well as a mixed Down Syndrome futsal team, and deep community links involving charity partnerships and social inclusion projects, Finn Harps have decided not to keep all the fun to themselves.
Fan owned throughout its existence under various ownership structures, and under increasing financial pressure to compete with huge levels of private investment in our rival clubs, the club launched a new ownership model in 2024 which aimed to take fan ownership to a new level. The bold aim is to have the largest fan owned club in Ireland, and subsequently one of the largest in the world. Bold claims, bold targets, but so was European Qualification 5 years after a 10-2 hammering.
The plan is simple, make ownership accessible like never before, with a membership model costing just €25 per year, which includes a share for life in the first year. And to open up our story, our journey, our ethos to the world and invite people to join us on our adventures. Both locally (where we have had over 1,200 shares snapped up in the opening weeks of the project), nationally and internationally.
And the final piece of the puzzle is the launch of a gift membership which allows you to literally gift ownership in this eccentric, illogical and absolutely beautiful football club. If you know someone who enjoys the romance of football as it was meant to be enjoyed, who loves an eccentric, unlikely underdog story, then don’t get them yet another football book, or some overpriced kit. Give them real football, give them Finn Harps.
Gift vouchers are available now HERE, while all other membership options can be found HERE
Who Are Finn Harps FC?
Formed in or around 1954, Finn Harps weren’t even the biggest club in their region, but a mad cap run to win the FAI Junior Cup in 1968 when, among other things, they lost in the first round before being reinstated, had multiple replays, were almost thrown out themselves for an ineligible player in the quarter final but somehow got to replay the game, and final won a second final replay in Letterkenny in front of 1,500 supporters.
The madness of that unlikely Cup win over the wonderfully named ‘Telephones United’ set the tone for the next 56 years. Now qualified to play in the 1969 ‘Intermediate’ Cup, which they were quickly knocked out of, against all considered logic the Harps decided to enter the top level of football in Ireland, the League of Ireland the very next year. Strings were pulled and favours called in and the club were admitted to the top-flight in May 1969 where they promptly lost their opening match 10-2 to kingpins Shamrock Rovers, much to the amusement of the largely Dublin based establishment.
Undeterred, the Harps manager vowed that he would have his side in Europe within 5 years, and just to be contrary, they managed it in 4 when they finished League runners up and faced Aberdeen in the UEFA Cup. An FAI Cup win and three more European appearances followed in the 1970s, including setting a club record a European home victory. Sadly, it was Derby County’s home record, which stands to this day, as a star-studded side featuring 11 Internationals, including Archie Gemmill and Charlie George, dismantled the Harps 12-0 at the Baseball Ground.
And the adventures have continued right up to the present day, with the club producing the highest scoring forward in Irish domestic football history, competing in major European competitions, undertaking a legendary, seat of the pants US tour in the late 1970s. Relegation when the LOI expanded to two divisions in the 1980s was followed by promotion in the ‘90s, a cup final multiple replay tragedy ending in defeat to a relegated side, a subsequent financial crisis and yo-yo years in the 2000s to a magical promotion playoff win in 2015. One thing we can guarantee at Finn Harps FC is that it is never, ever boring.
Learn More about Finn Harps:
- The greatest striker the League of Ireland has ever seen, Brendan Bradley
- The FAI Junior Cup Winning Campaign, an amazing story from start to finish!
- Charlie Ferry scored in every round of the FAI Cup Winning Campaign, Plus: Highlights from the 1974 Cup Final and Reflecting on the Cup Win
- The time Harps played in Turkey
- The time local teenager BJ Banda scored one of the mostly fondly remembered goals in our history to gain an unlikely promotion – context – the goal – the reaction
- The first ever senior goal scored by Paddy McGrory
- The time Harps toured America
- A video on Harps fans travelling away to a first cup semi final in many years
- Our Charity partner, the Bluestack Foundation
- The time our mascot, Harper the dog, got sent off during a league game
- Finn Harps FC – Community, Connection, Soul (and soup)
- Our commitment to our community and inclusion
