THERE ARE those at Aileach FC, explains Stephen O’Donnell, who never played on a pitch with goalposts until they went to secondary school and who remember a time when intruders in the form of cattle and sheep would have to be shooed away before a game could begin.
It is memories like these, perhaps, that have fuelled the progressive club’s development, the latest phase of which – the installation of an astroturf pitch at the impressive Lakeside complex – will be officially opened this Saturday afternoon.
John Delaney, the CEO of the Football Association of Ireland, will perform the official opening of the facility.
Since moving into the Lakeside in 2010, Aileach have kept developing and the astroturf is just the latest addition.
[adrotate group=”80″]Delaney will be in town on Saturday to cut the tape while the club will hold a Presentation Dinner Dance and Grand Draw in the Halfway House, Burnfoot on Saturday night, with the FAI chief conducting the draw.
“With the obvious financial restrictions that we and every club has, we had to do this at a more gradual pace than previous developments and maybe is not as noticeable to us as it is to others,” said O’Donnell.
“Over the years we have been commended many times on our facilities but as a committee we always try to improve what we have. The way we look at it is if you’re not moving forward, you’re falling behind.
[adrotate group=”88″]“One of the improvements we discussed is to develop a new area for train as due to the increase in teams and members.
“We felt the pitches were getting too much use and we needed a facility for our members to train away from the pitch.
“We already have the indoor astro pitch and the younger sides use it for training but we cannot afford to allocate too many hours to our teams as members of the public use the facility and generate some much needed income for the club.
“Wee decided to apply to the Sports Capital Programme in 2015 to develop a new astroturf pitch and to make some improvements to our clubhouse.”
[adrotate group=”81″]Aileach received a grant of €51,224 for the project, but have had to undertake a large amount of fundraising themselves. The Inishowen League Premier Division challengers will hold their big draw on Saturday; a venture that was set up to aid in raising the remainder of the funds.
Each family with a member at the club was given two tickets – one to purchase themselves and one to sell.
“It wasn’t a massive burden on each member but enough to make a massive difference,” O’Donnell says.
[adrotate group=”46″]“For me this is what clubs are all about, when everyone makes a small contribution is all adds up to a massive thing. The parents and players haven’t disappointed, almost everyone purchased one and most of them sold one as well which in turn cut down on the tickets the committee had to sell.
“Once again our wonderful committee has responded to the task and the members of our club are fortunate to have such a committee full of people who have the right attitude to progress and development.
“Once the financial plan was in place we employed Chris Doherty to complete the groundworks and fencing and employed to Pride Sports to lay the astroturf. Chris has been the pivotal figure in the development, his know how has pushed the project to be finished in plenty of time and the club and its members should be forever grateful for his contribution to this project.”
The development at Lakeside ranks as one of the finest in Donegal and as he observes it now O’Donnell and his clubmates can recall times when Aileach’s facilities were much more modest.
[adrotate group=”53″]He says: “Our committee is old enough to remember, but not too old, that when we were young there was no facilities to play football in this area.
“Most of us never played a game on a pitch with goalposts until we went to secondary school. They’re were teams in the parish but none of them had an underage structure and never did any of them own their own pitch.
“Now we have members from the age of 5 attending training on a weekly basis. They no longer have to chase cattle or sheep off the pitch before kick-off and thankfully they never will. Maybe these memories help to motivate the committee.
“Unfortunately for the committee and myself, previous loans secured to purchase the land the facilities are built on and to develop the clubhouse are still outstanding and will be for a long time yet so fundraising will be an ongoing event for the foreseeable future.
“If the members support us as they have in the past, we intend to make the most out of every cent they give us to have one of the best facilities in the country.”
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