To ask the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure how Sport Northern Ireland, as an arm’s-length body of her Department, are encouraging grass roots soccer programmes to operate on a cross-community basis and demonstrate an active commitment to equality.

Sport NI supports governing bodies, including the Irish Football Association, to work towards achieving a required level of the Equality Standard for Sport. Sport NI has encouraged grass roots soccer programmes to operate on a cross-community basis and demonstrate an active commitment to equality as follows:

Sport NI was instrumental in the creation and support of the Irish Football Association’s ‘Football For All’ advisory panel whose aim is to ensure football in the north of Ireland promotes both equality of opportunity for all persons and good community relations.

Sport NI’s Active Communities programme employs 116 (Full Time Equivalent) coaches across the north of Ireland to encourage participation in sport and physical activity. The coaches deliver soccer programmes at a community level, many of which have a cross community aspect.

During 2011/12, Sport NI provided funding of £6,596 to the NI Women’s Football Association under the Awards for Sport programme. This project increased grass roots soccer participation amongst girls aged 5-11 years of age, with 409 females benefitting from the project. The investment supported cross-community engagement amongst the clubs who benefitted from the funding.

Since 2013, Sport NI has invested £330,000 in Midnight Street Soccer which is a community football project that involves late night football leagues at nine community facilities for young people aged 14 to 17 years and provides an opportunity for many young people from diverse backgrounds to come together through sport. The project also aims to make young people more aware of pertinent social issues that affect them and their communities and includes good community relations training as part of the programme.