Agenda item

            The Committee was informed that the Irish Football Association (IFA), was considering submitting a bid to UEFA to host its under 19 youth final tournaments in 2017 and was seeking approval, in principle, from the Committee to support the bid.

            The Committee was advised that Council officers had met with representatives from the IFA to discuss the proposal.  The Association was currently carrying out a scoping exercise to ascertain if there were any available training venues in the greater Belfast area.  In addition planning for the event was in an early stage and currently the costs were unknown.  The preliminary discussions with the IFA had identified a number of potential training venues, that is, the Blanchflower Stadium, the Ulidia Playing Fields, the Strangford Avenue Playing Fields, the Victoria Park and the Dixon Park Playing Fields.

            Three significant factors in reaching the preliminary list were:

·        the need for natural turf pitches only;

·        the ability of those venues to meet UEFA standard pitch requirements in terms of size; and

·        the ability to restrict access to the site or part of the site for a period of up to 17 days during June/July, 2017.

            At this stage the IFA had requested that the Council agree, in principle, to the use of those facilities during the period of the tournament, which had as yet to be confirmed.  The Association had submitted a reservation form in respect of each of the aforementioned sites and was requesting the Council to sign those agreements to meet the requirements of UEFA as part of the bidding process.

            The Assistant Director of Parks and Leisure explained that that there were a number of issues for the Members to consider, namely:

(1)     this was a significant tournament and would be a high profile event for the city;

(2)     similar competitions had been held in the past and had been successful;

(3)     if the bid were to be successful, there would be operational implications for the Council in providing training venues which would include:

a)     potential closure of the pitches before the end of the local football season, also pitches might require attention prior to the regular season and might not be available until after the start of the season;

b)     potential restricted access to each of the sites for members of the public;

c)     realignment of the pitches to meet the pitch size requirements;

d)     possible hire of equipment, such as marquees for refreshments pre and post training sessions;

(4)     further discussions were required in relation to points 3 (a) – 3 (d) and it was intended that a further report would be submitted to the Committee at a later date to inform the Members of the success or otherwise of the bid;

(5)     the cost implications had not yet been quantified, however, it was suggested that the Council agree to meet the costs of providing the marquees for hospitality purposes and to agree to the free use of the facilities by the squads; and

(6)     the Committee was asked to note that the City Events Team, based in the Development Department, had been made aware of the bid and a further meeting would be held to explore other ways in which the Council might link in    with the preparation of the bid and any subsequent arrangements should the bid be successful.

            After discussion, the Committee agreed:

(i)      that the Director of Parks and Leisure sign, on behalf of the Council, the reservation forms submitted by the Irish Football Association in relation to the five sites which had been identified; and

(ii)     that the Council provide the agreed venues free of charge for training purposes.