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Midnight Street Soccer Nominated
for National Lottery Award
Midnight Street Soccer is a
community football project based in Belfast and managed by the North Belfast
Play Forum. The project aims to develop sport, communities and people, by
addressing the lack of youth provision in local communities at the times when it
is needed most.
The project has had over 700
participants within Belfast in 2006, and this number looks set to grow based on
the success and impact that it has brought to the city. Midnight Street Soccer
is also active in Craigavon, where it is supported by Brownlow Campus Sports
Trust, and it is now envisaged that the project will develop in communities
throughout Northern Ireland.
Through the Community Sport
Programme, The Sports Council for Northern Ireland and the Big Lottery Fund have
invested £30,000 in the initiative, and this has been a worthwhile contribution
according to Community Sport Programme Manager, Paul Donnelly:
“The Sports Council for Northern
Ireland is committed to the development of sport in local communities, and this
project epitomises the positive role that sport can play in the development of
communities. Sport plays an important role in addressing many social issues, and
Midnight Street Soccer has demonstrated how it can contribute towards crime
diversion and the development of community relations”.
In recognition of this impact, the
project has been nominated for National Lottery Project of the Year. It has been
shortlisted along with 3 other projects for the Northern Ireland Finals, with
the winner progressing to represent Northern Ireland in the UK Finals. Project
Manager, Diarmaid McAuley, considers this nomination as an important achievement
that could have a positive impact on the development of Midnight Street Soccer
in the future:
“The commitment and dedication of
all of the leaders and volunteers involved in Midnight Street Soccer has been
reflected in this nomination for National Lottery Project of the Year. Without
doubt, it has been positive for Belfast, and the publicity that would complement
this award would help us to develop the project across Northern Ireland. I would
like to take this opportunity to thank all of the partners involved in Midnight
Street Soccer, including the Sports Council for Northern Ireland, and to urge
people to vote for Midnight Street Soccer in this year’s National Lottery
Awards”.
To vote for Midnight Street Soccer call 08454349146 (calls
cost 1.5p) or vote online at
www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk.
Voting will run from 3rd July to 11th August.
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