28 January 2018
By Mary Bermingham
mary@TheCork.ie
Clonakilty Food Co.’s new, state-of-the-art facility in West Cork was the venue for a number of important announcements this afternoon.
Cork City Women’s FC, previously a separate entity, has now merged fully with Cork City Football Club. The FAI Women’s Cup winners affiliated to FORAS ahead of the 2014-15 season, and have now fully joined forces with the men’s teams under the banner of Cork City Football Club.
The old logo of Cork City WOMEN’S FC
Along with announcement of the merger, it was also confirmed that Clonakilty Food Co. would continue its long association with Cork City Football Club, with a new, enhanced partnership seeing the company become the main sponsor of the Women’s team, as well as maintaining their presence on the jersey of the men’s team.
Commenting on these developments, Pat Lyons, Chairman of Cork City and FORAS, said: “We are delighted to, once again, announce a renewed partnership with Clonakilty Food Co. Colette and her team have been strong supporters of the club since we joined forces ahead of the 2012 season, and they have continued to be great partners to our club.”
“We have been working more and more closely with Cork City Women’s FC since they affiliated to FORAS in 2014, and that process has now culminated in a full merger. The ethos of FORAS is to support and encourage football at all levels in Cork, and the merger of the Women’s team into the club is another positive step in that respect.”
Speaking about the merger, Chris O’Mahony, outgoing Chairperson of Cork City Women’s FC, said: “The club was first granted a licence to compete in the inaugural Women’s National League for the 2011-12 season. Since then, we have had our ups and downs but, over the last couple of years since the affiliation with FORAS, we have made a lot of progress, culminating in the club’s first ever FAI Cup triumph last year.”
“We are delighted to have the support of FORAS and Cork City Football Club, and also to have Clonakilty Food Co. supporting us by becoming our main sponsor. We look forward to building on the success of last season, and we thank all at Clonakilty Food Co for supporting us.”
Colette Twomey, Managing Director of Clonakilty Food Co., said: “We have had a great journey with Cork City over the last number of years. We were all delighted with the success enjoyed by both the men’s and women’s teams last year, and we are very pleased to be supporting both of them in 2018.”
“Community is very important to us here at Clonakilty Food Co., and we share many of the same values as FORAS and Cork City FC. We look forward to continuing to work with everyone at the club and hope for another successful year.”
As well as the announcement of the merger and the renewed partnership with Clonakilty Food Co., this afternoon’s event saw Cork City officially launch their away and third choice jerseys for the 2018 season.
Above: Location of Clonakilty Blackpudding HQ
Reacting to the day’s events, Cork City’s General Manager Paul Wycherley said: “It has been a wonderful afternoon here in Clonakilty. I would like to thank Colette and all at Clonakilty Food Co. for their hospitality today, as well as their continued support of the club and our teams. After the success of last year, the challenge for us is to continue to progress and, to do that, the support of our partners and sponsors is crucial.”
“We are very pleased to have the women’s team fully on board now, and look forward to working with them to build on the success they enjoyed last season. We certainly hope that there are more double days out at the Aviva Stadium to look forward to for football fans on Leeside.”
“It is also great to have launched our new adidas away and third choice jerseys. The home jersey, which launched before Christmas, has proved exceptionally popular, and I have no doubt that the same will be true of these jerseys as well. Our new partnership with adidas is already bearing fruit, and we look forward to its continued success throughout this year and beyond.”
The new adidas away red and third white choice jerseys, will be available for retail in store and online in two weeks’ time, as well as the next delivery of the home green jerseys in the next week.
