Rising from the ashes
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Moyola Park Football Club was recently presented with a £3,500 Texaco Sportstars Bursary, the proceeds of which will be used to provide social support for its young members within the Magherafelt area.
MOYOLA Park F.C. was given a timely boost last week, in the news that the club has qualified for a prestigious sports bursary, provided by Texaco.
The award comes in the aftermath of one of the worst months in the club's history, following a fire which completely gutted their changing rooms just three weeks ago. At the time, Secretary Raymond Loughry told the media that it was one of the saddest days he can remember in the club's history. Local supporters, businessmen and politicians echoed the sentiments.
Now committee member and junior age group coach Gregory Stewart has told the Northern Constitution that it is time for the club to look 'onwards and upwards' as they aim to rebuild for the future.
“It has been tough for us in the past few weeks, trying to sort out changing facilities for the teams and so on but everyone has pitched in and worked hard to keep things going. There was a bit of doom and gloom but the news of the sports bursary has given us all an incentive to take the club to a new level.
The local club was one of 25 successful island wide sports clubs to receive an award in the 2008 Texaco Sportstars Bursaries scheme. A bursary of £3,500 was presented to them at a function in Dublin recently.
Moyola Park, known for its cross-community, multi-cultural approach, has engaged with over 100 children from the Magherafelt district. Their bursary will be used to provide valuable social support and a focus for its young members.
Gregory continued: "We work hard with the youngsters in the area it's great to be rewarded for that work. We filled out the form and sent it off in hope, rather than in expectation. Everyone involved in the club was over the moon when we heard that we had qualified and the money will go a long way in helping us continue to provide a good sporting facility for all age groups at the club."
Now in its second year, the Texaco Sportstars Bursaries scheme is open to sports clubs of all kind. This year the overall allocation was virtually doubled to over 120,000 euro to provide for an increase to 25 in the number of clubs which would stand to benefit- up from 10 to 20 in the Republic of Ireland and from 3 to 5 in Northern Ireland.
A record 422 sports clubs submitted applications representing clubs from all of the 32 counties - up 59% on the 2007 entry. The largest of these came from clubs in Dublin City and the covering County (90). Other leading counties were Cork (45), Antrim (41), Down (29), Galway (27), Limerick (18), Kerry (16), Wicklow (12), Kildare, Armagh and Wexford (10 each). Of the total, 23% came from clubs in Northern Ireland with all of the six counties represented.
Some 51 sporting disciplines were represented amongst the applications received. Soccer clubs made up the largest number (72) followed by GAA (56), basketball (33), hockey and swimming (29 each), athletics (25), rugby (21), boxing (14), special needs (13), rowing and sailing (12 each) and camogie (10). Of the remainder, American football, ice hockey, diving, volleyball and canoeing were amongst the minority sports represented.
