held a public meeting to voice its objections<\/a>. It is also considering legal action.<\/p>\nSarah Herbison, from the group, said: “The actual scale and size of this development is humongous – six pitches, three floodlit pitches, a huge building for the media, catering facilities, for staff.<\/p>\n
“That’s not to mention the adverse effects it’s going to have on heritage, on ecology, and the whole character of the Galgorm and Cullybackey area.”<\/p>\n
Herbison, who does not live full-time in the area, has a home beside where the development is due to be built.<\/p>\n
Location ‘suits everybody’<\/p>\n
For the IFA, a bespoke training centre is long overdue.<\/p>\n
Jonny Hume, whose son Trai plays for the Northern Ireland men’s international team, believes the chosen site would work well.<\/p>\n
“It’s beside the Galgorm hotel, with two train stations very close to it. I just think it suits everybody,” he said.<\/p>\n
“You don’t get the heavy traffic you would get up around Belfast.”<\/p>\n
Hume said Northern Ireland is “way behind” many other nations in terms of football facilities and needs somewhere to call “home”.<\/p>\n
![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/2bb3c164f34ddf0212892bf961ad1e0f.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Jim Allister says the facility would be ‘good for sport’ [PA Media]<\/p>\n
The North Antrim MP, Jim Allister, also supports the planned new centre.<\/p>\n
He said: “It’s not just important locally, it’s important provincially to the whole of Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
“I think it does dovetail quite appropriately with the existing Galgorm Resort (hotel and spa).<\/p>\n
“Of course, any development always provokes a level of opposition and any objector is always entitled to have their concerns legitimately taken into consideration.”<\/p>\n
His view is that the facility would be good for sport and also for the economy.<\/p>\n
Water capacity issues<\/p>\n
NI Water has been consulted about the project and, at this stage, has recommended refusal of the planning application.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson said this was due to “both water and wastewater capacity issues in the vicinity of the proposed development”.<\/p>\n
But they added: “NI Water has advised the applicant via the planning process that there are potential solutions to the current constraints and has recommended that they contact NI Water directly. “<\/p>\n
The IFA said it will be engaging with NI Water to resolve any issues.<\/p>\n
How much will the centre cost?<\/p>\n
It is not clear how much money would be needed to construct the football centre but it could be around \u00a38m.<\/p>\n
The IFA is aware of the campaign to try to block the building of the facility near Ballymena.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson said: “This project represents a unique opportunity to deliver a world-class facility and a once-in-a-generation investment in football, communities and sporting infrastructure.<\/p>\n
“We will continue to listen, engage constructively and mitigate concerns where possible, as the planning process progresses.”<\/p>\n
That includes those worried about the impact on horse-riding.<\/p>\n
Planning decision pending<\/p>\n
It is not clear when Mid and East Antrim Council will make a final decision on the planning application.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson said: “The application remains subject to the assessment and consultation processes required under planning legislation, and it is therefore not possible to provide a timescale for a decision at this stage.”<\/p>\n
On the council’s planning portal, there have been more than 150 comments so far about the proposed development.<\/p>\n
The majority have been in favour of the project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Campaigners trying to stop a national football training centre being built near Ballymena are worried about the impact…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1166329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[213074,175937,263736,316601,316602,1144,316597,194916,316599,316598,316600,16,15],"class_list":["post-1166328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-cullybackey","tag-galgorm","tag-irish-football-association","tag-lady-juliet-frazer","tag-national-football-centre","tag-northern-ireland","tag-planning-process","tag-proposed-development","tag-sarah-herbison","tag-training-centre","tag-training-facility","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117149795438519026","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1166328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1166329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1166328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1166328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1166328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Lady](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/b9868cd6a0778dbb0ee6683f9ff6d0a5.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n