Yahoo Sports IFA accused of 'huge mistake' in Antrim training centre U-turn
An Irish Football Association (IFA) decision to withdraw plans for a national football training centre in Antrim has been branded "a huge mistake" by the vice-chair of a local club.
Antrim and Newtownabbey councillors have been told the IFA's interest in developing a 60-acre site in Antrim town into a large training centre has been "officially withdrawn".
It was made known at a meeting of the council's operations committee that "an alternative preferred site is now in development with a private owner".
Mark Gourley, vice-chair at Antrim Rovers, branded the move a "massive opportunity missed".
The IFA has said it had no comment to make due to commercial confidentiality.
Mr Gourley said there is a shortage of facilities and pitches in the Antrim area that the training centre could have helped ease.
He told BBC News NI his team recently "had to travel to Bangor and south Belfast for a so-called home game" due to a lack of pitches.
The council had previously been told the proposed national training centre would "offer facilities that benefit the wider community and Northern Ireland as a whole".
Mr Gourley said his team trains at Allen Park, which is more than a mile outside of the town, and that it's oversubscribed and lacking space.
"Where we train hasn't enough space for us to play our matches on a Friday night or Saturday morning," he said.
"Every youth team in Antrim uses it one way or another, there can be as many as 600 or 700 kids looking to use the facilities."
He added that walking or cycling to Allen Park is "probably too dangerous" for young people while the proposed location of the national training centre "would've been perfect".
"It's central to Antrim town where a lot of kids would live and local enough that they could get there by riding their bikes or walking."
A meeting of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council in June 2024 was told the national training centre was earmarked for a disused site.
A transaction of the land, likely to be the former site of St Malachy's High School and Ardnaveigh High School, was to be made between the Education Authority (EA) and the IFA, with the council approved to act as a sponsor.
Speaking during the council meeting Ulster Unionist councillor Robert Foster said he was "absolutely dumbfounded" by the decision.
He criticised what he described as a "move away to a private developer site" and demanded the IFA comes to the council to "explain itself".
"Birch Hill was clearly selected as a preferred site," he added.
DUP councillor Paul Dunlop added: "We were told Birch Hill was a preferred site, so what has changed?
"For Antrim, this would have been a great facility for grassroots football."
A spokesperson for the Department for Communities said no funding for the project has been awarded yet.
"The department expects the IFA to provide a business case on the development in the coming months."
A spokesperson for the IFA said: "This is a matter of commercial confidentiality and, as such, we are not making any comment at this time."
Additional reporting by Michelle Weir.
