Stradbally Town AFC have been trying to secure support from the Community Recognition Fund.
Members of a Laois soccer club, who lost their home in 2023, are looking for answers after being told they'll be missing out on State funding.
Stradbally Town AFC says Stradbally Hall owner, and Electric Picnic host, Thomas Cosby called in October of that year to inform them construction on accommodation for Ukranian refugees had already started on their football pitch and that they'd have to move.
Since losing their home of 30 years, they have been unsuccesfully applying for support from the Community Recognition Fund.
The fund was introduced in 2023 to recognise the efforts made by communities in welcoming and supporting people coming to Ireland.
Stradbally Town AFC's dislocation has led to a loss of players, and the shelving of many of their youth teams.
And despite assurances from representatives in Laois County Council, the club is set to miss out on the soon to be annnounced third round of funding.
Their Chairperson, JP Cushen says they won't be giving up just yet:
In a statement to Midlands 103, Thomas Cosby has issued the following clarifications:
"We had accommodated the football club for about the fifty years on the park for an effective peppercorn rent.
Yes they were given very short notice due to the nature of the Ukraine accommodation crises at the time.
Over the past few years their club has expanded considerably and for the past four or five years, I had been asking them to look out for a new location as it was causing issues with our privacy, security, parking, with other events held on same area and livestock with gates being open.
I've accommodated them in an alternative field beside the town for the time being but they very much need a site that they can develop themselves to build fit for purpose, changing rooms etc, that they can't do on my property.
I am surprised and disappointed that they were turned down for funding as they would have ticked all the boxed for the scheme."
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