Ballyoulster United Football Club benefits from national lottery funding

By Kim O’Leary Soccer and rugby clubs all over Ireland have benefited from National Lottery funded Sports Grants  to the tune of over €5 million last year, including Ballyoulster United Football Club based in Celbridge, Co Kildare. What started out as a one-team club playing its football on a green space in Ballyoulster, a small housing estate in Celbridge, in 1968 has grown beyond all proportions as what was a small Kildare town became part of Dublin’s commuter belt. Celbridge was home to about 1,000 people when Ballyoulster United FC started but it now has a population just shy of 22,000. In the mid-nineties, the club acquired 17 acres close to the housing estate where it all began. Over time it developed a club house, four full-sized grass pitches, one smaller pitch, two floodlit astroturf pitches and a floodlit sand-based training area. However, it wasn’t enough as the football pitches soon became ruined due to Ireland's rainy conditions. As Eoin Leahy, a teacher and member of the club’s committee explained: “We needed an extra facility to cater for growth. We used to have two small astros and used to rotate usage of them but it was not enough space and with the weather matches and training on grass were called off a lot.” And with the club having grown to cater for 28 teams and a twice-weekly academy for younger children, there was only one solution: an all-weather pitch. In 2014, the club received €175,000 towards the cost of the pitch in National Lottery funding through the Sports Capital Programme. Mr Leahy said: “We built a full size all weather 3G pitch that can be used for matches and four teams a night can train on it." He said:“The pitch cost €300,000 but we did some fundraising and also got a small loan. The work started before Christmas 2016 and the pitch, though not yet officially opened, was being used in February.” The funding was announced as the country braced itself for a “Super Sports” Saturday with the Irish rugby team playing South Africa in the International Series and the football team faces Denmark in a vital World Cup qualifier clash. The National Lottery said the soccer and rugby national governing bodies received over €5 million in vital funding for their youth development programmes in 2016. Distributed through Sport Ireland, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) received €2.7 million in funding, while the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) granted €2.36 million. Apart from football and rugby the total amount of sport Good Cause funding last year was over €45 million, benefitting 895 community sports projects. Dermot Griffin, CEO of the National Lottery, said today: “Ireland is a great sporting nation and the National Lottery is proud that its Good Causes fund is helping the development of all sport disciplines, including rugby and soccer. We hope that the investment in these sports will help create the next generation of Ireland’s soccer and rugby heroes. As well as contributing to the development of the sports, funding is also helping improve the lifestyles of our young people, making us a healthier and happier nation.” If players are too busy in front of the television to buy their Lotto tickets in their local shops they can play online at www.lottery.ie or through the National Lottery App by 7:45pm (the kick off time of the Denmark v Ireland game!)