The Waterford Ladies Gaelic Football Association are set to become the first county board in Ladies Football to own their own grounds outright. It is a milestone for the sport with an 11-acre site set to be for all county and club teams in Waterford LGFA across all grades from early 2023.
The project is expected to get underway in the summer which will transform the field beside the Waterford Greenway at Ballinroad. The plan is to construct a state-of-the art facility that includes a pitch along with a spectator stand, coach and car park and a six-lane running track as well as changing facilities for the players.
Currently Ladies Football teams have to rely on the goodwill of GAA clubs and boards for use of their facilities.
At present, only Armagh LGFA are the other county board who have the rights over their own pitch. Armagh ladies have a long-term lease on their facilities which include a fully developed pitch with floodlights set to be installed in the near future.
The possibility of being able to own their own facilities comes from six years of hard graft behind the scenes for Waterford LGFA, owing to fundraisers and other club events. In addition to this, a local businessman has generously agreed to turn over 70% of profits from the sale of his land to Waterford LGFA with the remaining 30% going towards the local Kilgobinet GAA club.
Waterford will become one of the few women’s GAA teams in the country to own their own pitch outright when a new facility is built in Dungarvan. pic.twitter.com/6JFYRA5ogq
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) January 18, 2021
Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland Edel Curry of the Waterford Ladies Gaelic Football Association said, “It’s fantastic news, We are the first ladies county board to own our own field outright.”
“It started back in 2015. A field development sub-committee was formed by the Waterford Ladies Gaelic Football Association.
“It was our vision to own our own grounds. I suppose like every county board in Ireland, we relied on the men’s local GAA clubs to use their facilities.