Ballymacash Sports Academy

What we're trying to do

Ballymacash Sports Academy are on a mission to create state-of-the-art sport facilities that will help everyone in the community - from enabling young people to excel at their talents regardless of their family income to helping everyone be a little bit more active. 

We’re inviting people to become owners of Ballymacash Sports Academy and help us take the first steps in the wholesale transformation of the Bluebell Stadium into the beating heart of the community, providing:

• more opportunities to play sports other than football
• a community gym with exercise equipment
• a sports bursary scheme which will be used to develop sports stars in a range of sports
• more community spaces and function rooms
• more space to play and watch football
• new changing rooms

The first phase is to increase the number of sessions we can run on by converting our existing car park into a 3G next-generation artificial pitch which can be used all day in all weathers, giving everyone the opportunity to play on a first-class surface to develop their skills or just make their kickaround more enjoyable! 

Working for the benefit of the community is why the Academy exists, so we don't want to create a problem for our neighbours through the extra cars coming to the stadium, so we'll also build a new, bigger car park in an area of wasteland behind the goals.

Why we're doing it

We believe that having hundreds (or thousands) of ‘Owner Fans’ of football clubs is the future for amateur soccer and we believe in encouraging local talent to have pride in playing for and representing their local teams. 

Ballymacash Sports Academy was created in 2017 by people involved in Ballymacash Rangers Football Club who realised that there was a bigger vision for the local community and sport than just football.

We range from local business people to community sponsors from churches and schools to an army of dedicated volunteers helping to implement a Community Vision for the young and not so young, fit and not so fit.

Ballymacash Rangers Football club has served the community of Ballymacash and local young people for over 30 years, and at the beginning of 2017, we embraced the fact that developing sports in the community meant developing stronger communities. 

We expanded our partnership with other local organisations and developed our plans for better facilities, more sports activities and become a truly accessible Sports Academy on that very ground where we started.

We believe sporting participation and social cohesion go hand in hand and in turn, this makes communities stronger and healthier.

Our goals

• to increase participation in sports for those for all ages, gender and abilities

• to develop sporting skills at a competitive level for an affordable price

• to establish links between schools, sports clubs and the wider community

• to improve both physical and mental health for all participants

• to create job opportunities

• to contribute to the community development and its regeneration

Join us and get a reward!

To help us, you can invest and become an owner of the Academy - we believe this is the future for amateur sport, and want to share ownership with people who want the same thing as us.

You can click the button marked 'Invest' and you can choose what level of investment you want - there are rewards for every level, increasing in value

• The minimum investment is £50 per investor, and everyone investing becomes an owner of the Ballymacash Sports Academy, with rights to get annual share interest and to have their share bought back if surpluses allow, as well as the right to be a Director of the Academy and vote in the annual elections and at the AGM.
• Everyone also gets to become a member of Ballymacash Rangers FC, giving you the right to attend matches and use the social club with discounted prices.
• If you can stretch to investing £100, you'll get all that plus two years' membership of the football club. 
• People investing £250 get THREE years' membership on top of their name being on a commemorative plate we'll produce to celebrate the successful close of the share issue, a specially-commissioned T-Shirt for owners of the Sports Academy and 1 hour's use of the 3G pitch when it opens. 
• Gold tier investors able to put in £500 get all that along with LIFETIME membership of the Football Club, never paying for a match again!
• You can invest more than that if you want so contact us first before investing!  The maximum we can accept is £10,000 per person.

What are Community Shares?

Community shares are withdrawable shares that cannot be sold, traded or transferred between Members, unlike shares in a typical company. All Members are entitled to one vote – regardless of how many shares they hold.

Members can be paid interest on their shares if the Board believe it would be sensible to do so, and can also withdraw their shareholding (in effect, have it bought back by the society), along with any interest accrued. 

The rights and responsibilities of members are detailed in the Share Offer Document and the Rules of the Society, which you are advised to read before committing to invest. You can also read the society's business plan below.

The Community Shares Standard Mark is awarded by the Community Shares Unit to offers that meet national standards of good practice. For more information about community shares, the Community Shares Standard Mark and the Community Shares Unit go to www.communityshares.org.uk