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                                                                A HISTORY OF RICHMOND F.C.

                         Richmond Association Football Club was founded in 1980 in time for the commencement of the 1980/81 West Cork League season. Richmond drew their players from the Waterfall area on the western outskirts of Cork city. The clubs first playing pitch was provided by Jim Horgan of Ballymaw, It was to be the clubs home for many years.

                         Since the 1987/88 season Richmond have seen a number of "homes" as in that season we moved to the Corbally  side where Ted O'Donoghue provided the pitch.Later we where to move across the road to Denis O'Riordan's and today this pitch caters for the seven teams the club boasts.
                         Richmond were crowned West Cork  2nd Division League Champions in our maiden season of 1980/81and repeated it the following season in the First Division .Richmond had arrived on the football scene in a big way-but bigger things were about to happen.The following season 1983/84 Richmond made history when they completed the "Grand Slam" of honours-First Division League,Flor Crowley Cup and  Carling League Cup.                                                                                                

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             Ger. O'Shea in an interview with 103County Sound telling  where we got our name!

                                   As often happens when a team clears the boards- the side had peaked and lean times followed with relegation to Division 2."The Blues" had to wait until the 1986/87 season to regain first Division status which was achieved in style as we came up as champions.This season also saw the U-18 team win their League.After losing first division status once again,the u-18 team were to provide the nucleus of the team that emerged as Division 2 champions in 91/92.

                        A bad run of results saw the team relegated once again,the following season,but by winning the League Cup this team showed there was more to come."The Blues"bounced back as Division 2 champs again and preserved this until leaving to join the A.U.L. in 1995/96.That last season in West Cork showed the hard side of the game as we once again contested the "treble" only to lose both cup finals and finish third in the league.

                      The season 1995/96 saw Richmond kick off their involvement in the A.U.L. Division 2. In the opening fixture against Bandon another bit of Richmond history was made when Paul O'Neill became the first player to score in the A.U.L. That season saw us finish mid table,but the high point had to be reaching the last 16 of the Munster Junior Cup.We eventually lost a titanic struggle to Passage (Premier Division) on penalties after a 3-3 draw.

                       The following season 1996/97 saw the Club increase its playing teams to four,Schoolboys(under 11 & 12),Youths and Juniors (A.U.L.). Consistency was still a problem with only the Youth team living up to form.The juniors just avoided the drop while both schoolboy teams found the going tough.

                      In 1997/98  Under 13 & 15 teams were entered in the leagues.This season saw a big improvement in fortunes.The junior team reached the Q-final of the Saxone Cup and third in the league and were duly promoted to Division 1.The Youths finished Runners up in Youths 2 and were also promoted.In the Schoolboys league the Under 15's struggled, being their first year in, but had a noteworthy result in a 2-2 draw with Leeds.All the other teams had good mid table finishes.

                       The season 1998/99 started off very brightly,the junior team getting on in all the cups,including a great victory over Rockville (Premier) in the F.A.I. Junior cup.However the distraction of the cups took from the league performances,and it took a sterling end of season effort to secure 1st Division status.The Youths Season was typified by their tremendous matches in the Munster Youths cup with near neighbours Ballincollig (Munster league) who after a replay just lost out by the odd goal.The Schoolboy teams were beginning to find their footing in their leagues.This season also saw Richmond with representatives on both the Cork A.U.L youths team and the Cork Schoolboys U-13 Kennedy Cup team.

                           So the season 1999/2000 began on an optimistic note,the junior team were unfortunate to draw all big guns in the early cups but their performances augured well for the rest of the season.The County Cup afforded us an end of season chance at Turners Cross.It was a big occasion for the team and the club,however a very strong Kinsale outfit stole the limelight with a stunning 3-0 victory.So a sad end to the season,but I'm sure this won't be our last visit there.The Youths team after a good few years had to regroup with players over-age leaving and a new crop to be blooded in.The season was tough on them as we struggled to hold premier status.Some sterling performances towards the end just failed to keep us up.The Schoolboy Teams again showed alot of spirit and no little skill as they began to make inroads in their leagues and it may not be long before we have winners here.   

                Season 2000/2001 arrived with plenty  to look forward to, our 21st year in existance.The season itself will be best remembered for the atrocious weather conditions followed by the Foot and Mouth outbreak.This played havoc with fixtures and more importantly to our teams league form,which ended up being as inconsistant as the weather.Our 21st Anniversary night was a huge success.Over 250 people attended our function at the Rochestown Park Hotel.In attendance were representatives from the A.U.L.,West Cork League and the Referees Society.