First offers of financial support issued to local clubs through Northern Ireland Football Fund

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has announced that the first offers of financial support have issued to football clubs through the Northern Ireland Football Fund.

Letters of offer for funding to prepare outline business case have been issued to the 20 performance club projects that are being progressed under the Northern Ireland Football Fund's Performance Programme. Taken together, the letters of offer represent financial support of up to £400,000.

These Letter of Offers represent the first funding awards made through the Fund.

Ten clubs have previously received business case funding from the Football Ground Business Case Development Fund (FGBCDF); these clubs will receive up to £10,000 to update their business cases.

The remaining 10 clubs will receive up to £30,000 to develop a new business case from scratch.

Welcoming the milestone, the Minister said: “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.

“I am delighted that these first offers of support have been made. Clubs have waited long enough for this funding to be made available.

“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.”

Notes to editors:

1. Photo caption – Communities Minister Gordon Lyons is pictured in his office signing the Northern Ireland Football Fund Letter of Offers.
2. The 10 clubs previously funded under FGBCDF and receiving up to £10,000 of resource funding are:

Ballymena United

Bangor

Carrick Rangers

Cliftonville

Dungannon Swifts

Glenavon

Glentoran

Larne

Loughgall

Newry City

The 10 clubs not previously funded under FGBCDF and receiving up to £30,000 of resource funding are:

Armagh City

Ballinamallard United

Ballymacash Sports Academy

Banbridge Town

Dergview

Lisburn Distillery

Lisburn Rangers

Oxford Sunnyside

Queen's University

Rathfriland Rangers

3.This business case funding is from a resource budget separate from the ringfenced £36.2million capital budget for the Northern Ireland Football Fund.

4. Officials will work closely with clubs and their business case consultants to ensure business cases propose strong projects which align with club applications, and any issues identified at initial due diligence stage are dealt with. Multi-year operational plans will also be required, setting out how clubs plan to manage new facilities in a sustainable manner.

5. Clubs will be expected to prepare and submit completed business cases within three to six months for Departmental approval.