The City of Derry Rugby Club has unveiled ambitious plans to transform its current 32-acre ground at Judge’s Road into a state of the art regional sports centre.
The plans were unveiled at Tuesday afternoon’s meeting of Derry City and Strabane’s Business and Culture Committee, where representatives of the club outlined their vision for the new facility, which they said would cost between £5m –£6m.
However, the club stressed that while they were there to inform elected members of how they aimed to secure funding for the project, and seek the support of the council in making their vision a reality, they did not expect the ‘public purse’ to foot the bill for the new centre.
Addressing the meeting, the club’s chairman, Tom Frawley said that the establishment of regional centre for sport, wellbeing and excellence, and the different disciplines it would cater for, would also ensure the long-term future of the Judge’s Road, as ‘it was impossible to sustain the site on a single sport’.
He added that the centre would not operate in ‘competition’ with the local council, but ‘complement it’ and help with its pitches strategy, as local GAA teams would have use of the facility, while there was also the potential to attract sporting clubs from across the border.
He added that the new centre could also play a vital role in helping Derry’s bid to host the Rugby World Cup in 2023, after a campaign was launched earlier this year for the city to host the tournament.
“If we could attract a country like New Zealand, think how that would affect the visibility of our city,” he said.
Meanwhile, Eamonn Seydak, of S3 Solutions, added that the new centre would include three outdoor pitches, including a 4g synthetic pitch and two grass pitches, an indoor arena, gym and café.
He added that the facility would also tie into the new cycle lane proposed to link the Waterside greenway to Strathfoyle.
Mr Seydak added that they had also identified a number of potential partners to come on board, such as the Donegal County Board, Ulster Rugby, The Western Health and Social Care Trust (WHSCT), the North West Regional College (NWRC), Ulster University, and hopefully the local council.
He told the meeting that a not for profit community interest organisation would be established to manage the facility, before tackling how the new centre would be funded.
Mr Seydak said that they had made an application for funding as part of Peace IV Capital Shared Spaces Programme on October 18.
He added that while this would cover 100 per cent of the costs, they were an ‘underdog’ in terms of being successfully awarded the money.
Mr Seydak said that they were also looking at the alternative ‘phased’ approach to funding, whereby they would approach the Rural Development Programme for the community, health and wellbeing building and seek a potential partnership with Derry City and Strabane District Council as part of their playing pitches strategy for the indoor arena.
He added that a bid could be made to the Sport NI multi facility fund due to open in 2017 for funding towards the outdoor synthetic and grass pitches, changing provision and lighting.
Commenting, the SDLP’s Brian Tierney said that it was ‘clear to see’ the potential of the project, particularly in terms of the World Cup bid, before seeking clarity as to what council’s role would be in helping the club.
“You have identified funders, but what kind of support do you need from council?” he asked.
Responding, Mr Frawley said that the ‘expertise of your officials would be highly valuable to us’, adding that they were looking for help with the planning application, as they were in a ‘challenging position financially.”
However, he added that the envisaged facility would have to pay for itself, before adding that the club ‘had no expectation that the public purse will be in a position to help us’.
“This has to be able to wash its own face,” he added.
Cllr Tierney then formally proposed that council officers enter into talks with City of Derry Rugby Club about their plans.
The proposal was seconded by the independent councillor Darren O’Reilly, while both the DUP’s Graham Warke and Sinn Fein’s Paul Fleming gave their backing to the club’s proposal.
The independent unionist councillor Maurice Devenney then said that he hoped to see Ulster Rugby contributing towards the scheme, before adding if there had been any support from GAA clubs locally and the Derry County Board.
Mr Frawley replied that they had a ‘very good working relationship’ with both GAA clubs in Derry and the board, and cited their transformation of the stadium in Owenbeg.
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