A COUNCIL is calling for Stormont to give more money to local soccer clubs if funding is increased towards the GAA's redevelopment of Casement Park.
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is to write to the Communities Minister Carál Ní Chuilín seeking the release of funds for sub-regional soccer stadia.
Some £36 million had been pledged to soccer grounds across the north under the Department for Communities (DfC) programme.
Mid and East Antrim council has been working with the three main soccer clubs in its area on developing proposals.
Councillors have agreed for the local authority's chief executive Anne Donaghy to write to Ms Ní Chuilín asking for the funding to be released.
They are also calling for "the same level of additional funding for local football should the amount of funding be increased for Casement Park".
Plans for the long-delayed GAA stadium redevelopment in west Belfast were recommended for approval last month.
It originally had a budget of around £77m, with Stormont pledging £62m and the GAA providing £15m – but its projected cost has since risen to £110m.
Stormont executive ministers and the GAA have yet to agree on how much additional money each should pay to plug the £33m shortfall.
Ms Ní Chuilín last month said the GAA must increase its contribution, having previously said the extra funding was "going to have to come from the executive".
A Mid and East Antrim council report said: "There is a growing lobby to ensure that the sub-regional stadia fund would also increase in line with any additional funding which may be provided to Casement Park."
Discussing the matter at a council meeting on Monday night, DUP councillor Marc Collins said funding for soccer should increase.
"I think it's only right that if the additional funding is allocated towards Casement then there should be extra moneys put towards football, and I think this council needs to be at the forefront of that lobbying," he said.
In a consultation in 2015, the then Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (now DfC) had divided the £36m into several projects, but the proposals were not implemented.
Earlier this year, DfC said a fresh consultation exercise was needed to allocate the sub-regional stadia funding due to changes in football over the past five years.
Mid and East Antrim council's report said DfC had advised that its research work is "nearing completion" ahead of a presentation being made to the minister.
