Irish Football Association place ‘number of staff’ on furlough

Chief executive Patrick Nelsonconfirmed the decision had been taken in order to protect the staff as well as the organisation itself in a statement yesterday.

“We hope to be able to facilitate a return to work for these staff members as soon as possible,” he said.

Mr Nelson once again called on the Northern Ireland Executive to provide financial support for senior clubs.

“As an organisation we continue to work hard to help tackle and respond to the coronavirus pandemic,” he said.

“(We) have written to the Executive asking it to ensure football is included in the recently announced Business Support Grant Schemes.

“Currently sports clubs are not eligible for the £10,000 small business support grant scheme so we called for sports clubs to be included in the recently announced cash grant for Hospitality, Tourism and Retail and that the scheme matches that in England which awards £10k for businesses with a rates NAV below £15k and £25,000 for businesses with a rates NAV between £15k and £51k.”

Mr Nelson also confirmed the IFA have also offered the use of the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park to the Northern Ireland Executive as a Covid-19 testing centre, or indeed for any other purpose which can assist. To date the offer has not been accepted.

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