SIMON COVENEY may have emerged from the turbulent political waters of a no-confidence vote this week, and it hasn’t all been plain sailing elsewhere for the beleaguered Corkman either.
Though he overcame this week’s vote, the Foreign Affairs Minister has seen his dream of bringing the America’s Cup yacht race to his hometown flounder.
Nevertheless, many in the sailing community still hope Ireland’s bid can succeed with last-ditch efforts continuing behind the scenes. And chief among them is Stewart Hosford, an acquaintance of Mr Coveney’s and the man responsible for finding a location for the event.
‘I am a proud Corkman and a proud Irishman and I have always wanted to create opportunities in sport for Ireland where they are appropriate, reasonable and meaningful,’ Mr Hosford, the CEO of Origin Sports, told the Irish Mail on
Sunday last night. ‘It’s upsetting for me that this bid has ended up in the realm of politics. I genuinely think this event would be good for Ireland and my community.’
The America’s Cup would bring vast prestige to Ireland but instead of agreeing to enter negotiations, the Government has asked for more time.
The decision is a personal blow to Mr Coveney, and to Mr Hosford whose family has been associated with Cork sailing for generations.
Although both men are not close friends, the relationship between their families is generations deep.
Today Mr Hosford is CEO of Origin Sports, the firm chosen to evaluate bids for the America’s Cup. But in years past the Hosford and Coveney families shared a strikingly similar history – not confined to the fact that both reared seven children in the same house, though not at the same time.
Simon’s father, Hugh, and Stewart’s father, Bill, were familiar figureheads among Cork’s elite business leaders in the 1970s and ’80s. Hugh Coveney and Bill Hosford also shared a love of sailing and were linked to the South Coast Boatyard in Rochestown which produced Mr Coveney’s infamous racing yacht, the Golden Apple.
In April 1978, for example, the pair posed for photographs together as directors of the boatyard to celebrate a new Admiral’s Cup contract from a Swedish team.
Then, in 1981, the Hosfords even swapped their Carrigaline home for Simon Coveney’s childhood home when they purchased Rockcliffe from the Coveney family.
In recent years Stewart Hosford and his wife Cleo have moved back to the neighbourhood purchasing
Chiplee House, a substantial period property.
Though he grew up in Simon Coveney’s old home, there is little to indicate that Stewart Hosford was close to Simon Coveney.
Mr Hosford had, until recently, been based in the UK. While there, he was responsible for deciding which sports stars the Royal Bank of Scotland’s sponsorship budget would be spent on. It was Mr Hosford who guided RBS to lucrative sponsorships of tennis star, Andy Murray and the Williams’ Formula One team. But like Mr Coveney, Mr Hosford’s passion was always sailing and in 2010 he became head of Alex Thomson Racing.
In 2015, Mr Hosford actively sought to establish a racing base for his Hugo Boss team beside the Navy’s Haulbowline HQ in Cork Harbour. At the time some were uncomfortable that just one yachting team appeared in the running for such a location.
Contemporary reporting pointed to the fact that Mr Coveney and Mr
Hosford were acquaintances. Clarifying the matter for The Irish Times at the time, Mr Coveney said he had been ‘asked by others’ to discuss the proposal with Stewart Hosford. He emphasised that he had not seen Mr Hosford for 20 years before recent contact over the Haulbowline proposal.
Speaking to the MoS this weekend, Mr Hosford said he has been ‘asked a lot about my relationship with Simon’.
But he added: ‘The reality of it is I’m not a close friend of Simon’s but I’m the same age as him and I have known him all my life through a family connection.
‘Over the years our paths have crossed and I have a lot of respect for his vision for Cork and Ireland which I fully share.’
After the Haulbowline proposal came to nothing, Mr Hosford established Ireland Ocean Racing – a team that hoped to see Cork sailor Nin O’Leary sail solo around the world in the Vendée Globe race.
Nin is the son of Anthony O’Leary, who like his father before him, Archie, was admiral of the Royal Cork Yacht Club.
Archie O’Leary, a one-time rugby international for Ireland, was a contemporary of Hugh Coveney and the pair were both racing rivals and close acquaintances.
But such links are common among the sailing fraternity of Cork where many families are so interlinked professionally and personally that it would be difficult to disentangle many. One such fraternity member is Marcus Spillane, the New Yorkbased vice-president of World Sailing who is originally from Cork.
Like many in his hometown, Mr Spillane was dismayed as the tide appeared to turn on Cork’s bid to host the global event.
‘We got right to the finish line and then we decided not to take the extra step,’ he said this week. ‘It demonstrates a lack of imagination and ambition.’
