North Belfast football club in desperate need of own facilities to grow as a team

A North Belfast football club has said they are in desperate need of their own training facilities to grow as a team.

Grove United FC currently train at Shore Road Playing Fields and Loughside Park, but say these facilities aren't suitable for training, as there are often holes in the ground, floodlights that don't work well, and there is often dog poo on the pitches.

Training can be particularly tricky during winter months, with teams having to travel out of their local area to the likes of Valley Leisure Centre and Mallusk Playing Fields for more suitable facilities.

Members of the team have said these issues mean players often move to other clubs nearby that have better training facilities.

The club currently has eleven teams in different age groups as well as two senior teams, but they are concerned that a lack of suitable pitches may halt their success.

Belfast Live spoke with Neil Thompson and club chairman Brian Boyd, who highlighted some of the issues the club has been facing in acquiring pitch space and how it has impacted them.

Brian Boyd has been involved with Grove United for over 40 years, but has been club chairman for the past 13 years. In that time, he said they have been fighting for better facilities without resolution.

He said: "This has been ongoing for about 12 years where I've been chasing better facilities. Every other area within Belfast has access to three or four different 4G pitches.

"But if you look below the Antrim Road coming down the Shore Road, into the lower North Belfast area, there's no facilities at all except Crusaders Football Club which is privately owned. There's nothing Council run to accommodate the people of lower North Belfast.

"We've waited far too long. We're trying to