Agenda item

Support for Sport - Event Funding

Minutes:

            The Head of City Events and Venues advised the Committee that an extremely large number of applications had been received for events due to be held between April and September.  These had been assessed using the criteria which had been agreed by the Committee at its meeting on 7th March, 2008.  Due to the number of applications, he recommended that the funding to be awarded to the events be subjected to a 30% reduction in order to ensure that an adequate amount of money would be available for those events due to be held between October, 2010 and March, 2011.

 

            He reminded the Committee that it had considered applications for event funding at its meeting on 10th February and recommended that, on the basis of fairness, they be subjected also to the 30% reduction.  He pointed out that one of these applications had been withdrawn by the event organisers subsequent to the February meeting.

 

            During discussion in the matter, a Member enquired as to whether or not checks were undertaken to validate claims made by organisations regarding previous year’s events when a subsequent application was made.  He pointed out that, since organisers sought funding from both the Development and the Parks and Leisure Committees for assistance towards the holding of events, it was important that staff within each Department discussed the applications which were submitted.

 

            In response, the Head of City Events and Venues informed the Committee that every attempt was made to verify information provided regarding events which had been held the previous year.

 

            Another Member expressed concern at the proposed 30% reduction and indicated that this would disadvantage those events which were to be held in the first half of the year and enquired as to whether or not this reduction would be applied to those events which would be seeking assistance later in the year.  He proposed that no reduction in the amount of funding to be awarded be made.  However, this proposal did not achieve a Seconder.

 

            In response to these comments, the Head of City Events and Venues indicated that twenty-five applications had been received for assistance for the first half of the financial year compared to eight in the same period the previous year.  He assured the Committee that a similar reduction would be applied to those events which sought funding in the second half of the year.  He pointed out that, given the large number of applications which had been received, the Department was considering having only one call for applications each year in order to ensure that the process was seen to be fair to all potential applicants.

 

            Following further discussion the Committee agreed to rescind its decision of 10th February regarding the awarding of event funding under the Support for Sport Scheme and agreed further that a 30% reduction be applied to those applications for events scheduled to be held between April and September.  Accordingly, the Committee agreed to adopt the undernoted recommendations for requests for assistance which had been received under the Support for Sport Scheme in relation to events and promotions:

 

Applications Considered on 10th February

 

Organisation/Event

Summary of Event and

Amount Requested

Recommendation

 

 

Northern Ireland Cycling Federation/P&O Tour of the North Cycle Race

 

Funding in the sum of £2,500 in relation to the holding on 2nd April of the launch of the event at Stormont

 

£1,050

Youth Soccer Tournaments Northern Ireland/Belfast Invitational Cup

 

Funding in the sum of £7,790 in relation to the holding between 6th and 8th April of a football competition at Queen’s Playing Fields involving 48 teams from England, Wales, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland

£3,817

 

Organisation/Event

Summary of Event and

Amount Requested

Recommendation

 

 

Malone Mini Rugby/Malone Under 13 International Festival of Rugby

Funding in the sum of £5,000 in relation to the holding on 10th and 11th April of a rugby competition involving 16 teams from England, Scotland, Wales, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland

Application withdrawn

 

New Applications

 

Organisation/Event

Summary of Event and

Amount Requested

Recommendation

 

 

European Highland Dance Festival/European and Ulster Highland Dance Championships

 

Funding in the sum of £6,000 in relation to the holding in the Ulster Hall on 9th and 10th April of this event which should attract 320 competitors from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Europe

 

£2,825.90

St. Galls Gaelic Athletic Club/St. Galls Belfast Centenary Year Inter Club Tournament

 

Funding in the sum of £4,670 in relation to the holding on 1st and 2nd May of this event which will involve 12 teams from throughout Ireland

 

£2,615.20

Mountaineering Ireland/National Bouldering Championship

 

Funding in the sum of £2,170 in relation to the holding at the climbing wall in the Ozone Leisure Complex on 8th May of this event which will involve 40 competitors from Northern Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales and Europe

 

£959.00

Peace Players International – Northern Ireland/Spring Jam

 

Funding in the sum of £1,150 in relation to the holding of this basketball event on 8th May which will bring primary school children together to play on mixed teams as a cross-community exercise

 

No grant as the event does not meet the necessary criteria

Northern Ireland Schools Football Association/British Isles under 14 Schools Championships

 

Funding in the sum of £5,000 in relation to the holding at Ulidia Playing Fields on 20th, 21st and 22nd May of this event which will involve schools from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland

£2,450.00

 

Organisation/Event

Summary of Event and

Amount Requested

Recommendation

 

 

City of Belfast Archers/All Ireland Championships

 

Funding in the sum of £9,500 in relation to the holding on 22nd and 23rd May of this event which will involve 150 participants

 

£2,450.00

Zapcat Racing Club/Belfast Maritime Festival Grand Prix

 

Funding in the sum of £10,000 in relation to the holding on 4th, 5th and 6th June of this event which will involve a Home Nations and City Championship event as well as the United Kingdom Championships.  Previous events have attracted between 20,000 and 75,000 spectators

 

£7,000.00

Ulster Ladies Gaelic Football /Year 9 Blitz

 

Funding in the sum of £3,325 in relation to the holding at Cherryvale Playing Fields on 4th June of this event which is targeted at Year 9 primary school girls and will involve a minimum of 400 participants

 

No grant as the event does not meet the necessary criteria

Queen’s University Boat Club/The Irish University Boat Race

 

Funding in the sum of £7,000 in relation to the holding on 5th June of the event which is based on the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race and will involve 72 rowers from Queen’s University Belfast and Trinity College Dublin and should attract 500 spectators

 

£3,606.75

Co-operation Ireland/Maracycle

 

Funding in the sum of £10,000 in relation to the holding on 26th and 27th June of this event which it is anticipated will involve 1,000 persons cycling between Belfast and Dublin

 

£4,900.00

National Balmoral Championships/National Balmoral Show Jumping Championships

 

Funding in the sum of £10,000 in relation to the holding in July of the 25th running of this event which should involve 200 participants and attract 5,000 spectators

£6,300.00

 

Organisation/Event

Summary of Event and

Amount Requested

Recommendation

 

 

George Best Community Cup

 

Funding in the sum of £10,000 in relation to the holding of this cross?community, cross-border event which will involve 520 players from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and England

 

£6,300.00

Left Field/Belfast 24 Hour Race

 

Funding in the sum of £2,925 in relation to the holding of this event on 30th and 31st July which will involve 50 international and local people running round the Mary Peters Track for up to 24 hours

 

£1,830.50

Crossover Basketball Northern Ireland/Crossover Youth Basketball Tournament

 

Funding in the sum of £6,000 in relation to the holding of this event in August which will be open to young people aged between 7 and 18

 

£1,330.00

Newmill Football Association/The Christopher Shaw Cup

 

Funding in the sum of £10,000 in relation to the holding of this event on 20th, 21st and 22nd August which will involve 48 male and 8 female teams from Derry, Donegal, Belfast and Wales

 

£2,149.00

Belfast Urban Sports/Bridges Action Sports Festival Belfast

 

Funding in the sum of £9,400 in relation to the holding of this event on 27th, 28th and 29th August which will involve skateboarding, BMX and inline rollerblading competitions.  500 participants and 5,000 spectators are anticipated

 

£5,267.50

Newington Football Club/Belfast Youth Cup 2010

 

Funding in the sum of £10,000 in relation to the holding at Grove Playing Fields on 28th August of this event which will involve 16 teams from North Belfast

 

£3,937.50

Irish Strength Association/Ultimate Strength Challenge Belfast 2010

 

Funding in the sum of £10,000 in relation to the holding on 28th, 29th and 30th August of this event which will involve 16 competitors from throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.  It will receive considerable media coverage on Sky

£6,300.00

 

Organisation/Event

Summary of Event and

Amount Requested

Recommendation

 

 

Spokes in Motion/The Belfast 2010 International Wheelchair Tennis Tournament

 

Funding in the sum of £5,837.50 in relation to the holding of this event on 17th, 18th and 19th September at the Ozone Complex which will involve 32 participants from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland

 

£2,852.50

St. Pauls Gaelic Athletic Club/All Ireland Golden Gloves

 

Funding in the sum of £2,000 in relation to the holding of this handball event on 24th, 25th and 26th September which should involve 30 participants and attract 500 spectators

 

£945.00

SCA Limited/Race to Embrace

 

Funding in the sum of £4,000 in relation to the holding of this event in September which will involve 150 participants from Protestant and Catholic communities in North and West Belfast

 

No grant as the event does not meet the necessary criteria

Belfast Tropics Basketball Club/Belfast Tropics Invitational Basketball Tournament

 

Funding in the sum of £4,000 in relation to the holding of the event in September which will involve teams from America, Cyrus, France, London and the Republic of Ireland and should attract between 3,000 and 4,000 spectators

No grant as the event does not meet the necessary criteria

 

Supporting documents: