Gordon Lyons says basing football funding decisions on his own views would not be appropriate
Gordon Lyons has defended the process by which local football clubs were allocated cash from a Stormont fund to improve local grounds – after criticism that the North West had been left out.
Coleraine FC manager Ruaidhrí Higgins said the region had been “shafted again” – and saying it was a “disgrace” than Institute FC, which has been without a ground for eight years, had missed out.
Mr Lyons, the DUP sports minister, says he appreciates the “frustration and anger” and is aware of the needs of some of the clubs that have not received funding on this occasion.
However, he says that it wouldn’t have been appropriate for the monies to have been allocated based on the views of the minister – and the decisions were made after a “robust process”.
This week, Mr Lyons announced his intention to progress the applications of 20 football clubs for a potential share of £36.2 million of funding. Belfast sides Cliftonville and Glentoran are the largest clubs which will go through to the next stage of the assessment, having had bids for works in excess of £6 million progressed.
After the announcement, First Minister Michelle O’Neill took to social media to call for “full transparency and fairness” around the allocation of the Northern Ireland Football Fund.
SDLP MLA Mark Durkan criticised the lack of investment in North West clubs, and said his party had sought commitments that Derry City would be included and “were told repeatedly by Sinn Fein ministers this funding was ‘guaranteed’”.
The sports minister told the BBC’s Nolan Show that the process wasn’t based on geography or his own views – rather the clubs being able to identify what their needs were.
Mr Lyons said: “It’s entirely down to the strength of the applications and the information that people were meant to include. Some scored better than others. It was always going to be the case that there were those that were going to move forward at this stage, and those that wouldn’t be moving forward.
“I want to bring as many forward as I can, but ultimately it was up to each individual club to bring forward the strongest application they could. And as is always going to be the case – some were just stronger than others”.