Printable View
Hey
Just wondering how much work do LOI Clubs do in the community?
I know in England it is common practice to have a community section in the club doing outreach work but don't see much evidence of it here at all, anyone got any insights into it?
When Sporting Fingal were around they had a charity set up to do something like that but I assume that went with the club?
Thanks
I know Harps work closely with the schools all across Donegal. Not sure about many other clubs doing that, but there is an officer at the club basically dedicated to working with the schools and the communities around the county. At every home game there are guest schools from this initiative.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fingalstan
Further to what Nigel mentioned there are various bits and bobs in this area such as coaching, road safety awareness, the tie up with Rehab for the Harps of Donegal project last year and various art competitions and things like that. Here's a bit of speel about what's going on this year HERE
Longford Town used to have a serious involvement. They used to send out the U-21s to loads of Primary Schools and take out different classes for little training sessions and mini-games. We loved it. But that hasn't been done in years! :(
We have a Football in the Community programme, but it is separate from the club. Several players involved but it is more about working with disavantaged/at risk groups than trying to promote the club at the minute.
Sligo Rovers are constantly visiting schools throughout the town and county (and beyond). They also get an underage side to be ball boys/ girls at matches and help out with fundraising or charity work when they can.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKt56...layer_embedded
Just to add a bit on: http://www.dundalkfc.com/community-o...tend-fai-blitzQuote:
Originally Posted by Dunny
GUST are working on a lot of projects. Don't know details of them as they haven't announced them yet.
Recent success has helped us a lot but with the few sunny days last week walking around town you'd see more people especially kids in Rovers tops then any British club.
Edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKt56DUK29k
Kudos and respect to whoever came up with this community initiative within Shamrock Rovers.
https://shamrockrovers.ie/2019/02/09...vision-centre/Quote:
@ShamrockRovers announce a community initiative to bring 30 residents from the Towers Direct Provision Centre in Clondalkin to all of the Hoops home league games
Idea previously done by Bohs so guess that’s who came up with the idea.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ezeikial
Bohs set up a Bohemian Foundation a couple of years back to work with the community . Number of initiatives, including work with groups representing those in direct provision (their clenched fist logo replaced Bob Marley image on latest sway shirt). Also have done work with Mountjoy Prison among other groups.
The Foundation was given a Lord Mayors award last year (Dublin city Lord Mayor) for its community work.
Kudos to Bohs too so.Quote:
Originally Posted by marinobohs
Cork City have been doing the same with the Kinsale Road Direct Provision Centre for several seasons.
we did that ourselves in the cup game with cork city last season when a few residents from the richmond hostel came to our game who are seeking irish citizenship. we have done it on a few times the last few seasons and there has always being a few of them that travel up to the game..
Limerick have been doing the same except it is as a punishment.
Pats have really upped their game in this recently
https://www.stpatsfc.com/community.php
We certainly used to do a lot of this, though I can't remember all of the various initiatives POS used to talk about. There was Reclaim, STEP, the prison programme (that got a bit of flak, but I always thought it was a great idea), transition years, etc. They even made it onto some RTE show I remember. I don't know which, if any, of them are still running (not based in Limerick). Social responsibility for football clubs is a noble goal, but there were legitimate questions to be asked about the extent of them when things were getting tighter financially.Quote:
Originally Posted by osarusan
Aside from coaching and healthy living type initiatives done by Dundalk FC (led by Liam Byrnes) I really dont think there has been a charity/fundraiser etc that the club havent been involved with in some way. With no shortage of generosity by individual players. Be it just players at launch nights, club endorsement, Stephen Kenny as a keynote speaker. There was, since 2004, a joint initiative with DkIT to coach in coaching and providing mentorship + support to secondary school kids that were at high risk of dropping out of school or indeed just troubled generally with self esteem issues at the source. It involved school counsellors, DkIT sports based students and Dundalk FC. I m not sure if it is still done but it was a valuable programme and many of the secondary students duly continued on to third level usually at DkIT due to being on this scheme. A lot of them had had their confidence totally shattered even by parents whose idea of encouragement was 'who do you think you are talking about college, i never went to college and it never did me any harm' (while they were long tem social welfare recipients). It broke a cycle for these kids and they got fed a health meal each evening also. There is a huge role for LoI clubs to play in social inclusion and community development in general. The risk, if that the right term, is that it is purely seen by the club as a way to get people through the gates on match nights or as a way to recieve additional funding. These are added benefit course but should not be the main focus!! All of these inititiatives by clubs should be lauded and properly backed by the FAI too as a way to also add value and improved public perception of clubs.
On the matter of clubs doing community work, in January 2018 Bohs and Cork City became the first LOI clubs to receive EU Regional funding for their community programmes.
how much dies the funding amount to?
Not sure, funding is usually project specific and has to be signed off by national authorityQuote:
Originally Posted by Kingswood Rover
Any idea of the programme the funding is allocated from?Quote:
Originally Posted by marinobohs
As far as I know the club put together a programme of community projects which was accepted by ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) officials and funding was allocated, I think through the FAI. The funding allows the club to employ a couple of staff working specifically on those community projects and covers most of the costs arising from roll out of the plans. I haven't seen the specific details but know the club have ben involved in a number of community initiatives with those in direct provision, football training courses in Mountjoy Prison, Phizfest (Phibsborough community initiative). club support for underage teams and our amputee team would also, I presume, be part of the programme.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nesta99
A number of clubs applied for funding and Cork and Bohs were the two successful applicants. I'm sure if any other club was interested Bohs would be happy enough to give more detail than I have available.
That's great stuff and thanks for that. Its sounds like the old days of sports clubs loading European and other grant initiatives with questionably large costs to generate general income may have been forgiven finally. It would be such a waste if all that was holding back other clubs from tapping in to similar European funding now is due not putting together the applications. Though tbh the applications themselves on this scale are pretty much a full time job for any development officer - maybe on this occasion the speculate to accumulate model might actually be the way to go and by that I mean actively benefiting marginalised, non 'traditional' communities with well funded programmes and the tangible benefit to the clubs being through good will and the subsequent wider fanbase.
That was some sort of Wales / Ireland type fund wasn't it? I know not all clubs could apply.
"This programme is funded through the European Regional Development Fund’s Ireland-Wales Programme and will be rolled out by 2 League of Ireland clubs in Ireland (Cork City FC and Bohemian FC) as well as two clubs in Wales (Conwy Borough FC and Haverfordwest County AFC), for an initial eighteen months. Each club will be provided with two full time and two part-time staff for the duration of the project.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr A
Programmes will be delivered from February 2018"
https://www.corkcityfc.ie/home/more-than-a-club/
Another potential impact of Brexit.
Strange choice of clubs in Wales - both in fairly fringe and under-populated areas (in contrast to Cork and Dublin), and both in their country's second tier. Conwy Borough were even in the Welsh third tier when the initiative was announced. Perhaps they were the only ones interested ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitman
Also strange to hear that the ERDF has an Ireland-Wales fund. What's that all about ?
It would be the ERDF. It is great for initiatives such as this. And it is extremely well-funded and I would advise all LOI clubs to examine it and all EU funds, regardless of what Commission unit or Pillar it falls into/from? Even think outside the box and examine all the funding opportunities across the different Irish departments.Quote:
Originally Posted by marinobohs
Agriculture for example, also covers food (which covers alcohol), and they have an extensive EU budget for rural developement and Leader style projects which possibly are not maxing out, which would mean more consideration would be given to marginal projects.
Just a suggestion.
I worked on the European funds (European Social Fund) many years ago and was always amazed at the lack of knowledge of what is available. National authorities are often precluded from 'advertising' funding opportunities (by EU law) but anyone with an idea they wish to pursue should check with EU Commission office to see what is available.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kingdom
I know historically there was an INTERREG Ireland/Wales programme (an inter regional fund for cross border initiatives - there was also a North / South border INTERREG programme). Ireland / wales was historic as it was the first such programme in the EU where there was no 'land link'.Quote:
Originally Posted by EatYerGreens
This can be dry stuff unless personally interested or involved in community development/Social Inclusion through sports but anyways my posts are often long winded so here's one lol, just my own thoughts from working in CD/SI.
It's certainly possible to be creative to access various funds, more today than there was in the past though things have moved on to be much more targeted in methodology and in performance and impact monitoring. There is also broader potential with target groups that would never have been thought of or considered in the not so distant past for funding a development/social inclusion project. A couple of decades ago a lot of focus was on peace and reconciliation, and the social 'exclusion' (I am glad that term was adjusted) work was just on areas of high unemployment, known areas of social deprivation. Today what is included under these programmes is fantastic to see. Its impressive stuff from Bohs and whomever had the forsight to identify the possible additional groups of socially excluded (not all people of any group are or feel socially excluded), and have the drive to put programmes in place and obtain funding. I am presuming that somebody at Bohs went asking the right questions of the right people to kick things off rather than be handed a list of groups the club could make an impact on and just given funding to do something. Im focusing on Bohs just based on what marinobohs has said as I dont know what the Cork projects are but are probably equally as laudable. There is potential for all other clubs to get cracking on this and if real measurable impact is achieved with these two clubs and catchment areas the funding programmes will probably grow further, maybe not all on quite the scale of funding but thats here nor there at the moment. Here are is a quik list of list of funding opportunities/initiatives of the top of my head (with the odd google search thrown ;)
SICAP, The Ireland Funds, Sports to Impact Fund, LSPs/Healthy Ireland, LCDCs, CYPSCS, Sports4Development, Sport Ireland programmes like LISPA/Women in sport, NGB provision of assistance with 'Stakeholder Engagement (for sector based Marketing, Communications, Sponsorship & PR Energy conservation/efficiency', the mentioned EDRP, Youth Guarantee. Migrant and Refugee integration/inclusion initiatives, and there are probably more if people think more 'creastively' than I can.
I dont want that to sound like its just an opportunity for getting some money in to a club for facilities to be improved be that grounds, club houses, youth academies, this is a benefit but shouldnt be the primary focus for CD/SE money. This for me is where LoI has the potential to really embed itself in Irish society, making a really big difference to peoples lives and for senior clubs to be community hubs. I genuinely believe that the competative aspects of a football club can be both a commercial entity and also be the lead in driving social inclusion that often statutory body projects get met by resistance and suspicion.
There are always phases where one group is getting the CD/SI sectors attention eg Mental Health, womans' participation especially in sporting communities, physical disability - thats huge as there's barely a stopping point! From the amputee/restricted mobility/wheelchair/transplant/visual+hearing impaired, community participation with club led leagues the springboard for many. It may seem like an endless mammoth task and there isnt capacity for all but most often with a start and guidance participants take ownership and just need some mentorship. And there are so many other areas to get working with like the brilliant direct provision one, intellectual disability, physical, sexual and domestic abuse survivor groups - these could have recipricol tie in with clubs as educators. The list is endless but most of these will already have some level of organisation and just need the outlet that a LoI club could provide even if its just by facilitation and cooperation with other facility providers, if for example physical infrastructure isnt there to manage a diverse range microcommunities at a LoI the via LSP other sporting bodies can contribute and share facilities/resources.
I really dont know whether anyone would be interested but heres my own thoughts on the Dunfield project back in the day and where things have changed over the subsequent 20 years since it was initiated and there is just a bit of a difference of where we are now and in 1998 or so. Since the peace process and with peace and reconciliation out of the primary focus the post peace process issues are now the societal the nitty gritty of trying to deal with a dwindling social cohesion. Then its was the broader strokes of just getting 2 different cultural heterogenieties (sorry but I do like those old buzz words lol) talking and interacting. A bit of a health warning is that I have cobbled this together from memory so maybe have dates or specific details out but mostly its an opinion peace and maybe others will remember stuff and offer more info. If people are wondering why ive bothered it is a bit of history on community involvement by clubs and possible the first significantly funded project? £150k Sports and community development in general is also just an interest that continues from a previous job I suppose. To me it indicates that initiatives now are done to genuinely be of benefit without sight of ulterior motives. I dont think this was always the case.
Dundalk and Dundalk FC (with Linfield) being frontline in in this conflict the clubs ended up benefitting from our proximity to the border by being able to access peace and reconciliation funds. Dunfield was a valuable, well intentioned but imo limited project to just get the the two communitities interacting on a basic level via Dunfield. It was predominantly getting kids to socialise through football and try and break the deep rooted cycle of old animosities being passed down the generations. Maybe it was all that was possible then whereas now there would be a lot more facilitated discussion sessions. They did happen but there would be less weighting on getting a group of lads to play football together. There was one instance where a match was abandoned due to things getting heated on the pitch and coaches getting out of hand. That sort of thing would be worked on much harder, earlier and slower now than the rush to get teams on the pitch and grant money through. Iirc grants were allocated on a per participant basis so understandibly there was an eagerness to get as many kids involved as possible. A planned for few hundred kids involved became a few thousand very quickly. There are anecdotal reports on the success of the project but I dont know if there was any final report on whether it achieved its aims and objectives of peace and rec or whether things got limited to a bunch of players from Linfield and a bunch of players from Dundalk to play under the name Dunfield and to what extent that contributed to a change in sectarian attitudes or not. There was hope that talented players would be unearthed. In subsequent years there were kids with physical and intellectual disabilities involved which was the start of publicly funded social initiatives evolving toward what the level of and type of participation is today.
As I alluded to above I feel that at times both clubs saw the funding as a source of general income and at also lost sight of what the project and funding was provided for, not unusual for a project of its time that was very general in its remit by todays requirements and possibly without the skills outside of football coaching to work on deeprouted preconceptions. I dont mean this as a criticism of peope involved as much as there just wasnt the requirement for analyses to determine if aims and objectives/performance markers (outside the football) were achieved and to what extent. It would be interesting actually to retrospectively do research with the former participants - the kids and coaches and see if or what impact was made. I feel myself that the project was too narrow with 2 clubs with some history and that there was a missed opportunitity to identify variables like the socioeconomic background of the participants and what impact this would have had on the project. Social 'Exclusion units were really only becoming part of Local Authority thinking in our own communities at the time never mind cross community cross border with young people.
A couple of things that I remember flagging up at the time was Dundalk Schoolboys league clubs boycotting the project over a issue on funding so to me hints on where peoples thinking was at.
There was also a very interesting forum held at DkIT in 2005 where Professor John Sugden spoke and had this to write,
"The idea of using sport for social, cultural and community development has been promoted for decades; however, only limited empirical research can be found that analyses the strategic potential of sport projects in contributing to conflict resolution, reconciliation and peace building in deeply divided societies". and at DkIT said he "sceptical about the role of sport. At best it reflected the divide and at worst made it worse".
Billy Hutchinson of the PUP was also at the forum and didnt agree with Prof Sugden saying that the political climate had changed to such an extent that the Dunfield project was inconcievable a matter of just a few years earlier he di make an interesting comment on education though where he said "the current system of education in Northern Ireland didn’t lend itself to reconciliation in that people were taught how to teach in Catholic schools and others were taught how to teach in Protestant schools".
On that premise for the NI participants maybe the whole project was up against it considering the much deeper routed issues involved. It's questionable whether those issues have been addressed even today.
Actually I found a piece in the rift between Dundalk FC/Dunfield and Dundalk Schoolboys League.
https://www.independent.ie/regionals...-26915127.html
I need to apply for some funding in order to dissuade my young nephew who is going to his first LOI game with some pals of his next Monday night, Great says i but you may have to sneak into the Jodi as all our tickets are gone. No Unc i am going in the HOME END......VOLUNTARILY mates of his in College, excommunication young man this family is green and white:mad:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kingswood Rover
Oh nooo! I hear ye though and that could end up interesting. The kiddos are already solid with Dundalk fc... I hope - if only Catboy and Romeo came in Dundalk FC stuff then it would be a banker!! Ive had the nephews in Oriel Park and brainwashed just in case their Leitrim Shels fan Dad does some damage and I need them in reserve ;)