Holywood Football Club

Public benefits

Holywood Football Club's purpose is to promote community participation in healthy recreation, in particular by the provision of facilities for the playing of soccer. This purpose falls under the Charity Act NI 2008 [Chapter 12 Part 1 Section 2 (g)] "the advancement of amateur sport". The charity’s beneficiaries are the members of the Club.

Membership is open to anyone interested in the sport on application, regardless of sex, age, disability, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, religion or other beliefs. The benefits which flow from promotion of community participation in healthy recreation include improved fitness levels among participants resulting in enhanced health levels, reductions in levels of preventable diseases as well as reduced levels of stress and anxiety. The benefits of sport on health and fitness are well documented, however I refer you to one of the seminal articles on the subject nonetheless; "ABC of Sports Medicine: Benefits of exercise in health and disease" (BMJ 1994;308:1291). In providing healthy recreation through sport for individuals there is a risk of unintended or accidental injury through physical contact. However this is rare and typically a short-term injury and the benefit outweighs the harm. The current Club Secretary has been in post for over thirty years. Over that time he estimates that 500 individuals have trained with or played for the club as members, and an unquantifiable number have benefitted from its facilities. During that period only 5 individuals have sustained injuries that have prevented them from continuing to participate in amateur sport. It is widely accepted that minor injuries can be sustained during the playing of soccer and as such the club has not collected empirical data to support this anecdotal statement. However the evidence quoted above demonstrates the benefit of the purpose outweighs the small amount of harm caused. No individual who has sustained an injury has held the Club as in any way liable for their injury. There are no private benefits flowing from this purpose. Incidentally the purpose also contributes to positive community relations, both among members of HFC and amongst the wider inter-connected Northern Ireland community of amateur sporting clubs through co-operation and the organisation of fixtures and meets. The idea of using sport for social, cultural and community development has been promoted for decades however until recently only limited empirical research was available that analysed the strategic potential of sport projects in contributing to conflict resolution, reconciliation and peace building in divided societies. I refer you to one such study which concentrates upon the experiences of a number of Football for Peace (F4P) projects operating in Israel entitled "Sport for Development and Peace in Divided Societies: Co-operating for Inter-Community Empowerment in Israel" (European Journal for Sport and Society 2011, 8 (4), 235-256). There are no private benefits flowing from this purpose.

What your organisation does

Holywood Football Club's purpose is to promote community participation in healthy recreation, in particular by the provision of facilities for the playing of soccer. Incidental to this purpose the Club facilitates cross-community interactions and contributes positively to community relations.