Northern Ireland is to host its first UK Armed Forces versus Defence Forces Ireland football tournament with council funding awarded this week.
The prestigious sporting event is being hosted in Lisburn by Ballymacash Sports Academy on November 13 with the sides competing for the ‘Perpetual Friendship Shield’.
The cross community event gained unanimous approval from Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council’s (LCCC) communities committee for a £5k grant.
Castlereagh City DUP rep, Brian Higginson said:
“I propose we support Ballymacash in this event, it is good to see it coming to the city.
“The council has a rich history of working with veterans and I would like to highlight that this is a cross community event.
“I would also ask that we send a letter of congratulations to Ballymacash for securing this event for the council area.”
Committee chairperson, Jonathan Craig praised Ballymacash for bringing “economic benefit to the council area”.
Men’s and women’s teams will take to the pitch with matches streamed live.
The event is expected to attract a large audience with over 40k watching online last year.
Local schools, church groups and sport organisations have been invited to attend.
The teams first met in England in 2015 with the tournament on Irish turf in Kilkenny in 2016, both countries have now hosted the event four times each with 2020 being a gap year for Covid.
The annual football rivalry takes place in Northern Ireland this year with the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) tipping council CEO David Burns, an assistant Irish FA referee, to be ready to blow the whistle.
Lisburn South DUP Alderman, Paul Porter added:
“Perhaps councillor, Higginson, a veteran himself will be putting his boots on.”
The women’s match is live from 1:45pm on 13 November while the men’s match comes later that evening at 6:45pm.
Both matches will be live on the BFBS Forces News YouTube channel and on BFBS TV with catch-up available on both services.