DUP fails to block football ground share bid as councillor denies ‘sectarianism’

The DUP has failed in a last-gasp attempt to stop a football pitch in north Belfast being shared by two teams as their home ground, and defended itself against accusations of sectarianism.

A proposal at this month’s full meeting of Belfast City Council saw a final unsuccessful bid by the DUP to have the local authority reject a decision it made last month to make an application to the Football Fund supporting Newington Football Club to use Ballysillan Playing Fields as its home ground.

This would mean Newington would be sharing the club alongside Ballysillan Swifts, who are the grassroots home club in the area. The two teams are regarded as having support from different communities, with Ballysillan having majority unionist support and Newington having majority nationalist support.

DUP councillor Jordan Doran said at the meeting: “I was once again shocked to see a proposal come through council that is so detrimental to the people of Ballysillan. I was not shocked however that some people in other parties branded our opposition to this as sectarian.

“They should not judge us by their own standards, this is not a sectarian issue, but a question of equality. All the people of Ballysillan are asking for is that the business case that underwent extensive community consultation is delivered unaltered and in full.

“The primary purpose of this project is to support the people of Ballysillan. The cross-community work was done, it was a co-produced project between Ardoyne and Ballysillan.

“Ardoyne was delivered unaltered. All the people of Ballysillan are asking for is equality.”

Last month 42 councillors voted in favour of Newington using the council-owned pitch while 17 voted against.

Councillors who voted in favour were from Sinn Féin, the Alliance Party, the SDLP, the Green Party, and People Before Profit, while those who voted against were from the DUP, the UUP and TUV.

In January Belfast City Council confirmed work will shortly begin to upgrade Ballysillan Playing Fields, with potential for a new stadium, as part of a £9 million investment under the Stormont Urban Villages programme.

The council said: “As part of the upgrade, a new 4G soccer pitch will be installed and council officers are currently considering how this facility can be maximised for community use.”

The plans for a pitch upgrade have been at the centre of some controversy over recent weeks, with Ballysillan Swifts believing they were to be the ‘priority user’ at the facility. The Executive’s website states the Urban Villages Initiative is “designed to improve good relations outcomes and develop thriving places where there has been a history of deprivation and community tension.”

The DUP state the Urban Villages plan is about investing in Ballysillan and Ardoyne, and claim Newington is outside that area of influence. Ballysillan Swifts had been involved in meetings, consultations and site visits since 2017 as part of the Urban Villages plan.

At a secret council committee meeting debate held away from the public and press three weeks ago, councillors further agreed that representatives from the Urban Villages project be invited to attend a future meeting of the committee to provide an overview of the scheme.

To put a halt to all the council decisions so far on the matter being ratified at the March meeting of the full council, Mr Doran forwarded an amendment. It stated that all decisions “be deferred to enable the council to receive a definitive answer from Urban Villages as to whether it was permissible to ‘flip’ an event space and for council officers to bring back a report on all options for Newington in North Belfast.”

The DUP amendment was lost, by 15 votes from unionist parties to 37 votes from the rest of the chamber.

Mr Doran added: “Urban Villages is a project based on social capital and good relations theory, which builds up single identity communities for them to work collaboratively, not have it forced upon them. The prospect of this council just flipping an event space is completely unacceptable.

“Ballysillan is a community with multiple communities within it. This space was to unite those communities, all based on social cohesion and good relations.

“But yet again this council is willing to forego years of planning, community consultation and the hard work of the people of Ballysillan.”

Sinn Féin Councillor Conor Maskey said: “I am bemused as to why we are here. The two pillars that I see as fundamental to the success of the original proposal are based around the best use of our public space, and for the needs of football in north Belfast.

“A statement from Ballysillan football was very clear, that what they were looking for was a home space for their first team and second team. In fairness to the people working on this, especially the (council) officers, they saw an opportunity where we could re-jig, and have Newington at that standard, the old second division if you like, with a stadium to suit.

“So the original business case is actually being enhanced by the football stadium offering, and then another space used by Ballysillan Swifts to get their first and second teams on. This latest option is to meet all those needs.

“There is another level at play here. If people are getting what they wanted, and now that is not good enough, I genuinely feel that is only because of where Newington Football Club comes from. We will never have any public space of this council owned by one community – that is not how we go about things.” He said the council decision was a “win win.”

Meanwhile Alliance Councillor Sam Nelson said: “There are false narratives being put out there. I think the public can make their own mind up, when they see what is happening here. What we have stated clearly is that we have a pitch shortage, and an opportunity to share a pitch.

“Every bit of opposition to that pitch sharing is being put forward at every single opportunity. What we are asking is for two teams that come from different parts of the community to come together to share our facilities, and also to attract what investment we can to those facilities.

“Beyond that, we have got to the point where we are actually proposing additional resources going into the local community. So not only is there a proposal to reject the sharing, but also to reject additional resources going into that community, purely on the basis they don’t want to share the pitch. That is a twisted narrative.” He said the rejection was “a disgrace” and “absurd.”