League of Ireland Series – Bohemians FC. - this cache
is one of a series based around League of Ireland football clubs.
The caches are all located at or near venues where current League
of Ireland soccer teams play.
The League of Ireland Series is open to everyone, if you
would like to place a cache at any other club in your area please
feel free to do so, you can follow the general format of my series
pages if you like.
Bohemian F.C., more commonly referred to as Bohemians, is
a professional football club from Dublin, Ireland. Bohemians
compete in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland and are
the third most successful club in League of Ireland football
history, having won the League of Ireland title 11 times, the FAI
Cup 7 times, the League of Ireland Shield 6 times and the League of
Ireland Cup 3 times. Prior to the establishment of the FAI and
League of Ireland, Bohemians competed in the Irish Football League
and Irish Cup, which were at the time all-Ireland competitions.
During that period they won the Irish Cup once and finished runners
up 5 times. They have won more games in European competition than
any other League of Ireland club and hold the record for Leinster
Senior Cup wins with 31 cups claimed.
Bohemians were founded on 6 September 1890 and 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 5 league titles, 2 FAI Cups and 4 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 proceeded to win
2 League titles, 2 FAI Cups and 2 League cups during the 1970s.
They suffered a 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.
Bohemians play their home matches at Dalymount Park in the
Northside neighbourhood of Phibsborough. They are owned 100% by the
members of the club. Their club colours are red and black, which
they adopted at the 4th AGM in October 1893. Bohemians supporters
often refer to their club by a number of nicknames including 'Bohs'
and 'The Gypsies' and provide one half of a bitter rivalry with
Southside club, Shamrock Rovers.
Although they did not make their first appearance in European
competition until 1970, Bohemians have now played more and won more
games in Europe than any other League of Ireland club. Like all
Irish clubs, they have generally 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 (and former Cup
Winners' Cup and European Super Cup champions) 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 (away) and draws against Rangers, Newcastle United,
Sporting Lisbon, Dundee United (away) and Aberdeen. In all, they
have beaten a total of 11 different teams, from 9 countries
(Denmark, Cyprus, Scotland, Germany, Estonia, Belarus, Belgium,
Wales and Latvia).
Under manager Pat Fenlon, Bohemians won back to back league
titles in 2008 & 2009 & also won the FAI cup in 2008
beating Derry City in the final at the RDS, Ballsbridge.