Set up in by local parents in 1996, St Mary's Football Club has helped hundreds of young people through their ever-growing team - but they face a problem as they are without facilities they can call their own.
St Mary's has grown rapidly since its formation, now having a First Kicks programme catering for over 100 children aged between four and eight, with many on a waiting list. Their youth set up has over 35 boys and girls teams. The community has three men’s senior teams and one women’s senior team.
Players and coaches mainly hail from Glengormley and North Belfast areas, and given the number of players involved in the club, St Mary's Committee reluctantly had to take the decision to curtail the number of teams representing the club as there are insufficient facilities in the area to provide effective training and coaching.
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A spokesperson for the club said: "St Mary's, like the other clubs in the area, are competing for a very limited amount of training/playing facilities, particularly for training in the dark nights.
"This is a real disadvantage to the community as the club is not able to promote the physical, social and mental health for all that it wants to. Volunteering is at the heart of our club's ethos, with over 80 volunteers giving up their time to promote a healthier lifestyle for the community.
"The club does so much more than just knocking a ball about. It develops players both on and off the pitch. For example, 10 players between the age of 15-18 will participate in courses in March which will give them an equivalent to two GCSEs.
"This will help to build their CVs and hopefully provide opportunities in education and employment in the future. The club also has boys and girls participating in cross community workshops every Friday night for the next 19 weeks.
"We work closely with NI Children’s Hospice and other charitable organisations and have just launched our very own mental health lead who has a wealth of experience in that field."
St Mary's say their plan is to create a mental health team of champions to provide the club with the tools to deal with the major problem around mental health.
However, given the size of the club, opportunities that it provides and aspirations for the future, St Mary's doesn’t have a place to call home or a pitch of their own.
They are not set on developing a home pitch and facilities that will support the hundreds of kids that participate in their teams and to anchor the club in the communities of Glengormley and North Belfast.
"The committee has been working with local politicians, council officials and local businesses to achieve this goal," a spokesperson added.
"The lack of facilities is holding back the development and progress of the club and as a community we are denying our young people the opportunity to develop fully.
"There are no youth clubs in the area, there is no drop in centres or community centres in Glengormley. The community are being deprived with the lack of facilities. We can only do so much without a base.
"The club are hopeful that outside funding can be secured and that the club plan to push on with finding a home. We are finding the lack of facilities and not having our own pitch is halting out success as a club.
"The club is spending over £85,000 per season on training facilities alone for just our youth setup. Teams are playing in many locations across North Belfast and Newtownabbey. Parents are travelling miles to training sessions.
"We are in desperate need of our own facilities."
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