New artificial surface can attract ‘high profile games’ to Ballyclare, insists Comrades director Robert Fleck

Councillor Vera McWilliam; Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Councillor Mark Cooper; Robert Fleck, business development director at Ballyclare Comrades FC; Councillor Michael Stewart; Councillor Helen Magill; and Ballyclare Primary School pupil Olivia Mawhinney.

Ballyclare Comrades business development director Robert Fleck hopes that the instalment of a 3G pitch at their Dixon Park home will help attract ‘high profile games’ to the area in the future.

The Playr-Fit Championship club has just commenced work on a £673,000 project that will be an artificial surface built at their home ground, along with several other facilities alongside it.

While the laying of the pitch is the main building project that will be undertaken, there are also plans to create a new two-storey clubhouse that will also act as a community, health and well-being club.

The project, which is due to be completed in the spring, has come about in large part due to £132,000 given by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, with the club taking out £145,000 in loans to make up the remainder of the cost.

The Comrades were also beneficiaries of the Irish FA and the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport Grassroots Facilities Investment Fund, which awarded the club £396,000 with the aim of improving and refurbishing facilities to create a better grassroots football infrastructure foundation.

And now the club can look ahead to an exciting new chapter in their history, one which Fleck hopes will see them extend their outreach into the local community.

“This is an exciting time for the club. Over the last six years, we’ve grown from a traditional men’s football team into a community based club with over 550 members made up of boys and girls,