Fingal council plan features new club

FAI League of Ireland News: Fingal County Council yesterday unveiled details of their new football development plan, a wide-ranging document for the promotion of the sport within the local authority's area that includes a proposal for a high-quality training centre and the launch of a new League of Ireland club, Sporting Fingal.

The training centre element of the plan, which council officials hope would be designated as a regional centre of excellence by the FAI, has just entered the consultation phase of its development but John O'Brien, senior executive officer at the council's community, recreation and amenities department, is hopeful the project, which would cost around €11 million, could be completed in a little over a year.

"The complex (to be located at Turvey Avenue not far from the old Dublin to Belfast Road) would be world class and an asset to all of the clubs in our area," he says. "Our intention is it would be a key element of a strategy aimed at concentrating on the development of the game at grassroots level and then working our way up."

At the top end of the tree would be Sporting Fingal, a new club backed but not financed by the council which is essentially the brainchild of former St Patrick's Athletic and Shamrock Rovers manager Liam Buckley.

The new club is in the latter stages of negotiating a funding package from sources independent of the council that will see it through the first few years of its existence. It will, however, work closely with the council and operate out of the training centre if and when it is completed.

Buckley said a submission will be made by Wednesday to the FAI regarding a place in next season's new A Championship and that the club will play its games at Morton Stadium with both parties expressing the hope a new stadium can be developed over the next few years.

"This is something I've wanted to do for 20 years," said Buckley. "I've managed big clubs here but this is something different, it's about getting out there into the community and doing something. It's taken two years to get to this stage but Fingal County Council have been great to work with and we both see all of this as part of a bigger process."