Crusaders have landed a whopping £2.2m in UK Government support. The funding will go towards the Irish League club's proposed Shore Road Skills Centre.
The 'Levelling Up' funding will help Crusaders enhance it's Seaview home, with the club also adding £250,000 of its own money to facilitate the redevelopment work.
The Skills Centre will be housed in the South Stand of the North Belfast venue and will make provision for ‘a range of current sports and educational initiatives’ plus community and cultural schemes.
It beings the curtain down on a lengthy legal process after Crusaders launched a judicial review after initially being rejected for the funding.
Project Director and Treasurer of Crusaders FC Tommy Whiteside commented: “The club developed a very strong application and a robust business case within a very competitive, UK-wide challenge-fund. The Shore Road Skills Centre will house a range of current sports and educational initiatives at the club as well as a vocational education offered by our educational partners.
"This is the largest funding award that Crusaders have ever achieved and it is a testimony to the strength and capacity we have here at the club. Tendering will now proceed with a 'build' phase creating much needed employment.
"The Skills Centre will be a vital part of our infrastructure at Seaview as we seek to develop our premises as an open and welcoming modern small stadium. We are grateful for the political support we have received from across the spectrum in helping us realise this vital piece of community infrastructure.”
Vice-Chair of Crusaders FC and Education Programme director for the project, Mark Langhammer added: "It is a matter of fact that the Duncairn area within which the Skills Centre will be located is an area of high recogniaed educational disadvantage. We aim, with partners, to tackle that.
"Sport has the power to change lives, and has the leverage to promote wider social goals, such as in education. The Skills Centre will be open to the public and will promote an attractive 'menu' of courses and vocational opportunities as well as progression pathways to Further and Higher education partners.
"The initiative seeks to offer opportunities for people, young and old, to achieve and improve their lives. We, at Crusaders, pride ourselves in being "More than a Football Club" and the Skills Centre will represent visible proof of that vision."
English (United States) ·