Sport Northern Ireland: Creating Opportunities has provided £5,000 of match funding
Football For Everyone
Belfast, United Kingdom
Aim
Promote inclusive football for university students of all backgrounds — age, gender, race, sexuality — through accessible opportunities.
History
Queen’s Football Club was founded in 1910, two years after Queen’s College Belfast became Queen’s University Belfast.
Queen’s men's play in the Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) Championship and in have recent years won the NIFL Premier Intermediate League the Intermediate Cup and last year the NIFL U21 Development League for the 2nd time in 4 years. Queen's ladies will be playing in the Premier Section of the Women's Soccer Colleges Association of Ireland (WSCAI) for the first time having won their first ever trophy and promotion from Division 1. For the first time, a ladies second team was created in 2024/25 season, seeing them finish runners up in their league.
Challenges
Why Are We Crowdfunding? We face several challenges in making football truly inclusive for all students. Engaging underrepresented groups, including women, LGBTQ+ students, and ethnic minorities, presents a challenge, as traditional football environments may feel unwelcoming or exclusive. Building trust and inclusive spaces requires time, cultural awareness, and consistent outreach.
Project
Our project aims to significantly increase participation in football across Queen’s University by creating inclusive, accessible, and engaging opportunities for students of all backgrounds. We recognise that football has the power to unite people, and we want to ensure that every student — regardless of age, gender, race, sexual orientation, or ability — feels welcome and supported in our football community.
Outlined below are the new projects we will look to start to create a space for everyone to get involved. We aim to have 40-60 people take part in these programmes in the first 6 months, with a target to keep growing the numbers year on year.
The programmes will begin in November, running for 6 weeks before taking a Christmas break. They will start up again 3rd week of January and run for a further 10 weeks before breaking off for Easter. The final block will begin on 3rd week of April and run for another 6 weeks before breaking off for summer (as this final block falls outside of the Creating Opportunities funding timeframe, this block and delivery will be funded by the Crowd).
Social Drop-In Programmes: Casual, welcoming football sessions encouraging participation without pressure. A great way to meet new people and keep active.
Social Leagues:
- 5-a-side League: Fast-paced, fun competition for students of all abilities.
- 11-a-side League: Structured league play for those seeking a more traditional format.
Through your support we will be able to reach out to minority groups to give them an opportunity to get active and find belonging through sport. Your support will go towards covering our coaches fees, facility hire, equipment purchase, kit purchases and training up our student volunteers as coaches.
How We'll Spend The Money
Coaching Fees - 2 coaches twice per week for 1 hour at £40p/h = £160p/w X 22 weeks = £3,520
Upskilling - National Coaching Certificate Course £220 X 4 spaces = £880, Becoming a Referee Course £25 X 2 spaces = £50
Equipment & Clothing - 20 Footballs = £431.88, 40 bibs = £120, Cones = £37.14, Medical Bag = 2 X £58.74 = £117.48, Reusable Water Bottles = £45.90 Training T-Shirt £16X60 = £960, Kit for Winning 5/11-a-side teams = £900
Pitch Hire - Hiring council pitches to play on = 3 per week at £61.20 = £183.60 X 16 weeks = £2,937.60
TOTAL = £10,000
Every contribution made towards our project will be doubled in value thanks to Sport NI’s match funding commitment. For every £1 pledged, Sport NI will match it with an additional £1, up to 50% of our overall funding target. This means your support goes twice as far in helping us create inclusive, engaging, and sustainable opportunities for participation in sport.
This project successfully funded on 21st January 2026