TWENTY local football clubs in Northern Ireland have received offers of financial support to help develop their offerings worth up to £400k in total.
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons confirmed the first offers of financial support which have been issued to football clubs this month through the Northern Ireland Football Fund.
The funding offer is to allow the clubs to prepare business cases to win a share of the Northern Ireland Football Fund.
Offers have been issued to 20 projects that are being progressed under the Northern Ireland Football Fund’s Performance Programme.
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons is pictured in his office signing the Northern Ireland Football Fund Letter of Offers“These Letter of Offers represent the first funding awards made through the Fund,” a spokesperson for the department confirmed.
Ten of the clubs have previously received business case funding from the Football Ground Business Case Development Fund (FGBCDF).
They are Ballymena United, Bangor, Carrick Rangers, Cliftonville, Dungannon Swifts, Glenavon, Glentoran, Larne, Loughgall and Newry City.
Each of these clubs will receive up to £10,000 to update their business cases.
The remaining 10 clubs are first time funding recipients who will receive up to £30,000 to develop a new business case from scratch.
They are Armagh City, Ballinamallard United, Ballymacash Sports Academy, Banbridge Town, Dergview, Lisburn Distillery, Lisburn Rangers, Oxford Sunnyside, Queen’s University and Rathfriland Rangers.
“When I announced the cohort of football club projects progressing to the next stage of the Northern Ireland Football Fund, I undertook to support clubs so that projects would move forward as quickly as possible,” Minister Lyons said.
“I am delighted that these first offers of support have been made. Clubs have waited long enough for this funding to be made available.”
He added: “It’s now over to clubs now to develop or finalise their business cases which set out their detailed project proposals, costs and benefits.
“They will be doing that over the next couple of months, and my officials will be on hand to help them.”