Department for Communities officials insist regional weighting didn't have 'any support' in NI Football Fund process
Department for Communities officials have said the idea of regional weighting being included in the NI Football Fund process didn’t have “any support” from Irish League clubs, who were keen to compete for the crucial money “on an even playing field”.
There was outrage across the North West following last week’s announcement by Communities Minister Gordon Lyons when Coleraine, Derry City and Institute were amongst the high-profile omissions of applications progressing to the next stage.
Coleraine manager Ruaidhri Higgins insisted the area had “been shafted again” and also highlighted how Institute were deserving of investment after their Riverside Stadium was closed in 2017 due to severe flooding.
Department for Communities officials faced further questions over the Football Fund in Thursday’s Committee meeting.
When asked if regional balance should have been included, Joanna Gray, Director of Active Communities and Football Fund lead, said: "We knew that almost all of them (grounds) needed investment right across the country, so there was no particular area or club that necessarily had a special case to be made.
"But, we did still engage with stakeholders over whether there were certain things they would like to see taken into account as part of the process and regional weighting was not something that was brought forward that had any support. Clubs wanted to be able to compete on an even playing field.”
Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for the NI Football Fund, Emer Morelli, insisted there was “no manipulation” of scoring.
"I can give my assurance as SRO that the scheme was published in a fully transparent way and agreed matrixes and scoring was completed,” she said. “The Minister had no role in that assessment of applications to reach those scores.
"The process from the perspective of the programme is what it is. Advice was then provided and it was for the Minister to conclude. The outcome was the outcome – there was no manipulation or anything of that nature following that process.”
In total, 20 Irish League clubs progressed into the Football Fund’s next stage, including two successful applicants – Cliftonville and Glentoran – in Tier Three for projects valued at over £6million.