'It would be a massive step for Institute'

Institute are hoping that a ‘five-year hiatus’ without a home will come to an end soon after submitting an expression of interest for the lands at Clooney Park West.

The club, forced to move from the Riverside Stadium in Drumahoe due to a devastating flood in August 2017, submitted a bid to the Department for Communities for use of the grounds earlier this week, and are hopeful of being named the preferred bidder by the summer.

Chairman Bill Anderson revealed that the club are hoping to land the long-term lease to begin work on a new home for the club, which will begin with the transfer of infrastructure from the Riverside to Clooney Park West. But everything remains hypothetical until such times as they are given the green light.

“We identified it as the optimum location for Institute Football Club about a year after the flooding of the Riverside Stadium,” he explained. “With two years of covid, everything was placed on the backburner, so it has taken a long time. If we are successful in that bid, we will try to move as much of our old stadium up to that location if we can.”

The absence of a place to call their own has been a significant obstacle for ‘Stute, who have also suffered a dubious relegation from the Premier Division since the flood. Anderson feels the club’s ambitions would be infinitely better served with their own home.

“We have always produced good, young players, many of whom go on to play at a higher level with a Premiership club,” he continued. “Ideally, we would like to hold on to them, but it’s very hard to do if you haven’t got your own stadium and facility, your own infrastructure and your own environment. It is currently only a bid because it is an open process. I’m not sure how long we have to wait on a decision, but I am hoping we have a decision by the end of the season.”

‘Culture of the club’

‘Stute, who face Ards at the Brandywell this Saturday, are hoping to finish a difficult season on the pitch strongly, but away from the pitch, big things could soon be happening.

“It would be a massive step for us,” Anderson stressed. “Although the Brandywell and the people of the Brandywell and Creggan have been good to us, it’s very hard for us to generate income when you’re in a ground where you have to be out by 5:30pm on a Saturday and you can’t advertise around the ground because they are all Derry City boards.

“Just to have your own home is a really important step for us for the culture of the club. The Riverside was a lovely wee stadium and was on the verge of developing further, but we had to take that one on the chin. We went to Wilton Park, then across to the Brandywell, now hopefully we will have a new location for a lot of the infrastructure that we currently have at the Riverside.”

Should ‘Stute be named as the preferred bidder by the Department for Communities, it would help end a painful chapter in the club’s history, and start a fresh page on a bright future for the club.

“It has been a long process,” Anderson acknowledged. “We have been involved in the consultation process run by council along with other sports clubs. We are hoping to have a health and wellbeing hub that could include other sports and other clubs and even some community infrastructure as well.

“Altogether it would be a really, really important development for the Waterside because Clooney Park West is right in the heart of the Waterside and everyone from the two bridges to Altnagelvin Hospital could walk there within 10 or 5 minutes. Plus, people could walkover the Peace Bridge and walk up through Ebrington. It’s an ideal location and we’re hopefully that our bid is accepted and we are identified as the preferred bidder and then we can start to move forward. It’s been a five-year hiatus really in terms of the club’s development.”