Ballinamallard United chairman Tom Elliott has voiced his concerns over the Northern Ireland Football Fund that will see £36.2 million injected into allocated clubs to update and improve stadiums and facilities in the higher divisions of football in Northern Ireland.

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons made the announcement last month after money had been initially put aside 10 years ago but a series of delays means the funding will only come into effect in the 2025/2026 financial year.

Speaking on the announcement, Mr. Elliott said: “I welcome the Minister’s announcement that the £36.2 million will be released for sub-regional stadia funding, now called ‘The Northern Ireland Football Fund’. Financial support for sport is always very welcome.

"This fund has been sitting in the ether for many years, while it’s some time away from getting on the ground it has at least taken another step.”

A meeting was held, at Windsor Park, at the beginning of October last year where the most significant discussion held was on grants of up to £30,000 to be made available to qualifying clubs to produce a Business Case.

The physical condition of a club’s ground and the average attendance at a ground in the last year were the two criteria points that would be assessed in order to receive a grant.

Mr. Elliott was among several club representatives who raised an issue with the latter criteria as bigger clubs would benefit from having larger attendances.

“It was raised with the DfC (Department for Communities) Officials that as one of the two criteria was the attendance numbers at the grounds last year, this was strongly loaded in favour of the clubs with the larger attendance, which was clearly in favour of Premiership Clubs and disadvantaging clubs from the Championship and Premier Intermediate Leagues," Mr. Elliott continued.

"The results of this are now being followed through with the vast majority of Championship and PIL Clubs being rejected for the provision of this financial support.

"This provides a further barrier between the larger clubs and those who are surviving on meagre income."

Mr. Elliott added that funding for facilities at Ferney Park and Fisher Park would go a long way for the Championship club: “Ballinamallard United FC would intend to apply for any funding opportunities, particularly for community changing and toilet facilities for users of Fisher Park, however, I would assume our chances of success would be limited given that we did not qualify for the Business Case financial support.

"The end result will be that the big clubs get bigger, and the others are left to financially struggle on a daily basis, many with poor or below standard facilities, particularly now that youth and girls football has expanded so much.”