Member's statement: East Derry: Local Football Clubs

Member's statement by Ms Cara Hunter on 11 March 2025.

MLA

Ms Cara Hunter

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

11 March 2025

Type

Member's statement

Business

Members' Statements

Heading

East Derry: Local Football Clubs

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4854956

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank some of the local football clubs in my constituency of East Derry. I will name just a few of them: the Heights Football Club; East-End Youth Football Club in Coleraine; and, of course, Portrush Football Club. Those clubs help hundreds of children to enjoy sport and get exercise, instil in them a sense of confidence and offer them positive male leadership and role models. Many of the clubs serve the most deprived wards in Northern Ireland, with over 250 children, and the coaches often pay out of their pocket to support them. Yet, the clubs cannot get adequate access to appropriate pitch facilities in their council area. I am deeply concerned about the lack of access to football pitches in my area to serve the needs of those clubs. I ask the Communities Minister, Gordon Lyons, to engage with the clubs in my constituency that lack access to efficient funding, changing facilities and, most importantly, pitches. Specifically, I am deeply troubled that publicly funded pitches in my constituency that are created to serve the broader community are instead reserved for just one 90-minute Coleraine and District match per week. That results in those vital facilities, which are intended to promote sport and physical activity for the whole community, being left overwhelmingly idle for the majority of the week. Restricting community access is detrimental to our young people who want to play football.

I am concerned that that will ultimately have an adverse impact on those whom we must support to get into sport. That includes children, young people, women and girls, disabled people, children with autism, the LGBT community and ethnic minorities, all of whom want to engage in sport. Two of the football clubs, East-End Football Club and Portrush Football Club Youths, have been unfairly prevented from accessing these facilities, despite their ongoing commitment to provide opportunities for our community and a safe space for children.

Football clubs in and around the Coleraine area do a fantastic job. Some of them serve more than 200 children. It is pivotal that those clubs are allowed the appropriate access. Most notably, the long-established and successful Portrush Youths summer camp has been forced to cancel as a direct result of not having access to the pitches. Also, a charity match has not been able to go ahead. That stresses how important the matter is. That is not only a gross misuse of council facilities but a violation of the principles that underpin Sport NI's headline values, which say that everybody should have access to sport. I urge the Minister for Communities to take note of the situation and to engage with those clubs and the council. It is vital that the public investment in sport delivers the maximum possible benefit for all the children and young people who are in my constituency.

472 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:12 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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