Battle for summer football is still alive, says Coleraine chief

COLERAINE chairman Colin McKendry insists the fight to introduce summer football in Northern Ireland is not over.

The Northern Ireland Football League have been consulting clubs on any possible seasonal change but no agreement has been reached yet. It’s thought that any change would need a 75% majority vote in favour — the backing of eight of the 12 Danske Bank Premiership clubs — to proceed, and with Glenavon and Ballymena United opposed to a summer move, it’s a huge challenge to reach a workable compromise. NIFL thought that an early July start might gain more support, but Crusaders

and Linfield both feel this is too close to the European qualifiers and could lead to a fixtures headache.

Glentoran are also understood to have their concerns regarding the merits of a July kick-off.

The Crues favour a May to February model, while the Blues may be open to a June start.

Coleraine have for some time held the view that summer football is worth trying and McKendry (left) says it could still happen.

“We would like to move the season to either the start of May, June or July,” he said. “Hopefully we can play in better weather. I do believe that some agreement can be reached for the betterment of everyone.”

In a wide ranging interview, the Bannsiders chief also expressed his support for an all-island knockout cup, while calling on the Irish FA to play a key role in the distribution of the £36.2m of government money being made available for local football.