For Those I Love and more to play 'A Night of Songs and Stories to Save Tolka Park' next month

For Those I Love and Oski Bravo are set to play 'A Night of Songs and Stories to Save Tolka Park' in the Button Factory, Dublin on Saturday, March 5 – as part of a special benefit gig that will also feature a panel of guest speakers from across the Irish football community.

The Save Tolka Park campaign is a coalition of local residents, football fans and activists united in opposition to the rezoning, sale and destruction of Tolka Park (which has been home to Shelbourne F.C. since 1989) by private developers. Their aim is to protect its almost 100 years of sporting history, and to see Tolka Park recognised as an important community asset.

The night will serve as an opportunity to raise funds and awareness, as the campaign continues to fight to save one of Dublin’s oldest sporting landmarks.

For Those I Love, aka David Balfe, has been vocal about the importance of the Save Tolka Park campaign. He famously held up a 'Coolock Reds' Shelbourne flag, which belonged to his friend, the late Dublin poet Paul Curran, during his performance on Later... with Jools Holland.

The video for the track 'To Have You', from his acclaimed 2021 album For Those I Love, was also filmed in Tolka Park, where Balfe and his friends scattered Curran's ashes.

"Tolka exists far beyond its role as a place to kick ball," Balfe states. "It lives in people’s hearts. It’s a ground that connects families through generations and brings people together to form undying bonds. For me and mine, Tolka is a place for us to connect with the memory of our best friend whom we lost a few years back, and I know it serves that same role for so many more. Tolka is more than a ground, it’s a home."

Also appearing on the night will be Dublin indie four-piece Oski Bravo. Having released two EPs, and gigged extensively on the Irish circuit, the band recently completed their self-titled debut album, which is set for release in the coming months. The group have also played at Tolka Park on several occasions.

Tickets for A Night of Songs and Stories to Save Tolka Park are available now here.

Read Paul O'Mahony's report of what turned out to be one of the most memorable nights in Irish domestic football here, as Galway Women's FC unexpectedly dismantled leaders Peamount United and gifted the title to Shelbourne at Tolka Park – making for a powerfully dramatic finale to last season's SSE Airtricity Women's National League.

O'Mahony looks ahead to what promises to be the most combative season in the history of domestic women's senior football in the new issue of Hot Press, available to order now: