Communities Minister Gordon Lyons announced the 20 teams to progress in the NI Football Fund Performance Programme
There were winners but no losers according to the Communities Minister Gordon Lyons as he announced which football clubs would proceed to the next stage of the Northern Ireland Football Fund Performance Programme.
After waiting 14 years for the allocation of the £36.2 million first made available in the Sub-Regional Stadia Funding, 20 clubs from the 38 who applied will be taken forward with the estimated departmental cost of all projects coming in at “just over £82m”.
Glentoran and Cliftonville are the big winners as they are the only two successful clubs in Tier 3, for projects over £6m.
But while they were celebrating there was disappointment and frustration for other clubs whose projects have not been taken forward including the three north west based clubs Coleraine, Derry City and Institute.
That has led to criticism from north west-based MLAs but Mr Lyons it’s “not a no but a not yet” for those disappointed clubs.
“My key message is this is not a no to anybody, it’s simply not yet to some,” said the minister.
“We did not have scoring based on geography, this was based on need, and this was based on the impact that it was going to have in the community.
“I understand there will be frustration, I understand there may be some anger about this as well, but we had to treat everybody fairly, we had to put it through the same process, and I can assure you that the disappointment and frustration with those clubs in other parts of the country will just be the same as it will be in the North West.
“But again, my message is, it’s not no, it’s simply not yet, let’s do everything that we can to make sure we can get people where they need to be, and that’s why I will be allocating staff to those clubs to talk to them, to tell them about the next steps and where we need to go from here.
“I want this to be a rolling programme, I want to make sure that everybody gets their needs met, but it is right that we take forward the cohort that we’ve taken forward at this stage so that we can make sure that progress is made.
“I’m in politics to make a difference, I want to make sure that we have that transformational impact.”
The total cost for the 20 projects which have progressed to this stage is currently £82m, which is significantly more than the original £36.2m allocated.
Some projects will likely not proceed to the final stage but Mr Lyons explained how he will cope with the extra expenditure both now and for future funding.
“I don’t have that money right now in my pocket, but we do have what my capital budget might look like in future years, and to be fair, very little of this will be spent in this financial year,” he said.
“Some money may be drawn down for business cases, possibly this year for some design costs, but it’s going to be over a longer period of time, and I hope that we will be able to draw down more investment as it will be needed, but there may be a degree of prioritisation that needs to happen.
“I can look at the entirety of my budget, and it might be that I want to put more of my capital budget into the football fund because there are so many positive benefits for not just football as a sport, but for the local community as well that can flow from that.
“So that’s what I’m determined to do, and I hope that I can get more funding for that. I think it is important to note that we talk a lot about the importance of health, and all too often you ask the general public, where do you want to see your money spent? They say put it into health. Putting money into health doesn’t mean putting it into the Department of Health.“I genuinely believe that I can do far more with my department in a preventative way through good housing and warm homes and arts and culture, but also with sport as well, and I can play a preventative role there. So that’s why I believe this money can be so transformational.”
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