Crewe United Football Club is delighted to announce that the club has been selected to progress through the Northern Ireland Football Fund Grassroots Facilities Programme, with proposed investment of £949,000 towards a transformational redevelopment of Crewe Park costing £1.15 million in total.
The announcement was made by Communities Minister Gordon Lyons at an event at Blanchflower Stadium on Wednesday 30 September.
Crewe United is one of just seven projects selected to progress from 42 applications submitted to the £9 million pilot programme.
The £949,000 investment will support the development of a new full-size 3G pitch and newly constructed changing facilities at Crewe Park, providing modern, accessible and sustainable facilities for our players, members and the wider community.
The project is further strengthened by £200,000 already secured from Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council through its Community Infrastructure Fund, representing a combined investment of almost £1.15 million in the future of Crewe Park.
A transformational project for Crewe
This represents one of the most significant developments in Crewe United’s history.
Since our formation in 1961, Crewe has grown from a local football team into a club and community hub serving hundreds of children, young people and adults every week.
Our Academy alone now provides football for hundreds of boys and girls, alongside our senior men’s, women’s and development teams. Crewe Park is also regularly used by other clubs, leagues, schools and community organisations.
That growth has placed increasing pressure on our existing facilities, particularly during the winter months.
The development of a full-size 3G pitch will dramatically increase the amount of football and community activity that can take place at Crewe Park throughout the year, while the new changing facilities will provide the modern standard of accommodation required for a growing club.
Importantly, the project is about much more than Crewe United.
The new facilities have been designed to create additional opportunities for women and girls, schools, community organisations, other football clubs and other sports, helping Crewe Park continue to develop as a shared community facility for Glenavy and the surrounding area.
Years of work behind the scenes
Reaching this stage has required a huge amount of work over several years.
The club has developed detailed plans for the future of Crewe Park, undertaken technical and site investigations, progressed designs and planning, developed participation and sustainability plans and worked closely with a range of partners and stakeholders.
We are enormously grateful to everyone who has contributed to that process.
We particularly acknowledge the support of Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council, whose £200,000 Community Infrastructure Fund commitment has been instrumental in helping us progress our ambitions for Crewe Park.
We also thank the Department for Communities and the Irish Football Association for recognising the potential of this project and the difference this investment can make.
Most importantly, we thank our coaches, volunteers, players, parents, members, sponsors and the wider Glenavy community.
Crewe United has always been built by volunteers and by people prepared to give their time to create opportunities for the next generation. This project continues that tradition.
What happens next?
The Department for Communities has confirmed that the seven successful projects will now progress through a due diligence stage, examining the legal and financial feasibility of each project.
Subject to the successful completion of that process, the Department anticipates that the first funding agreements can progress later this calendar year.
There is therefore still important work to complete before construction begins, and the club will continue working closely with the Department, the Irish FA, Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council and our professional project team as we move through the next stages.
But today represents a hugely significant milestone.
For more than 65 years, generations of volunteers have worked to build Crewe United and Crewe Park.
This investment gives us the opportunity to build facilities worthy of those generations – and, most importantly, facilities capable of serving the generations still to come.
The future of Crewe is taking shape.
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