Visitors to Bangor's ground have noticed the range of improvements made to the stadium over the past few months as Bangor bid to have Clandeboye Park ready for Premier Division football next season if the club passes the criteria for entry into the proposed new 12 team Premier Division.
Big improvements at Clandeboye Park
New seats in the stands and improved facilities for spectators and players as well as a drug testing centre have made Clandeboye Park, home of Bangor Ladies, a venue which is superior to many existing Premier Division grounds. Good news is that the ground passed an inspection of these facilities with flying colours as well as other criteria, such as financial infrastructure.
Bangor FC chief executive Bill Peden issued the following statement: "Following an inspection of Clandeboye Road on Tuesday March 4, I am delighted to announce that Bangor Football Club has met all criteria necessary to play at any level within the domestic game for season commencing August 2008.
"This means that we now meet the necessary infrastructure standards to play in the Invitational League, the Premier Intermediate League, Irish Cup latter rounds, Intermediate Cup and may well be considered to host a junior international in the future.
"Our application for a domestic licence will be presented to the Irish Football Association within the next 10 days, closely followed by our application to join the new Invitational League. Both applications will be made well before the March 31 deadline.
"The Irish Football Association and North Down Borough Council commended us on the high level of ground improvements carried out at Clandeboye Park, all of which not only pass the criteria required but aim to improve facilities for everyone using and attending our ground."
Mums the word
EVELYN Hughes, mum of Northern Ireland International captain Aaron Hughes, joined with other mums of some of the UK’s top footballers to launch a McDonald’s campaign to encourage and help more mums become qualified grassroots football coaches.
Coaching iniative for Mums, backed by the Irish Football Association
The Mums On The Ball campaign - backed by The Irish FA, The FA, The Scottish FA and Welsh Football Trust - will raise awareness of the qualities that mums can bring to coaching and also help mums become qualified coaches by providing 170 free places on courses across the UK, including 16 places across Northern Ireland.
Commenting on the new initiative, Evelyn Hughes, commented: "The Mums on the Ball campaign is a very exciting initiative which is encouraging mums to become involved in coaching by raising awareness of their skills - skills which many don’t realise play a key role in developing their children’s football abilities.
Pat Jennings is McDonald’s Head of Football in Northern Ireland.
Commenting on the campaign, he said: "Mums can be very unassuming and are often apprehensive about getting involved in coaching and hopefully this programme will help encourage many more of them to get involved."
The campaign is part of McDonald’s overall community coaching programme in partnership with the IFA which has so far created over 300 new qualified coaches, delivering coaching sessions to thousands of children across Northern Ireland. The partnership also encompasses a concerted and widespread schools curriculum programme and will deliver a series of over 125 interactive football festivals across Northern Ireland by 2010.
"Over 50% of the total population in Northern Ireland are women and although more mums and women are getting involved in coaching there is still a deficit of active female coaches. To facilitate and encourage more mums to get involved in coaching the IFA will be running special women’s only coaching courses where the participants will be able to earn their coaching qualifications in a relaxed environment."
For further information about Mums On The Ball, to download a free guide or to register interest in one of the coaching courses. Even if you are not a mum but are interested in coaching, McDonald’s community coaching programme continues to be open to anyone, male or female, young or old, parent or otherwise - please visit www.mcdonalds.co.uk
Last Edited on 18-Mar-2008 6:52 AM
