Book: The Enduring Legacy of an Idle Youth - The Founding of Bohemian Football Club

Author: Ciarán Priestley

The Bohemian Football Club was founded on 6th September 1890 in the Gate Lodge
of the Phoenix Park by a group of young men in their late teens and early twenties.
Dublin of the 1890’s can be a difficult place for its modern inhabitants to understand
because, to paraphrase a famous lyric, Dublin kept on changing and nothing seems
the same. To reimagine the Irish capital as a Victorian city of Union Jacks, empire
and radical politics is to remove the events of the twentieth century from its
landscape.

It was not inevitable that the Bohemian Football Club would survive the social
transformation that was brought about by the First World War or the Irish Revolution,
given that it boasted participants from different sides of these conflicts amongst its
membership.

Important decisions were made early in the life of the new club that helped it to adapt
to a rapidly changing world. The role of democracy and ambition forged a sense of
purpose amongst its members that overcame the great political questions of the era.
Securing a permanent home in Dalymount Park reflected these values and created a
position of strength that ensured the club has remained at the forefront of Irish
football to this day.

This book examines the community of young footballers that inadvertently created a
Dublin institution during their formative years, placing these efforts in a social context
that inspired the literary works of James Joyce and caused a national revolution. This
is a revised and updated third edition with new imagery and content including guest
contributions.