History created as Waterford ladies football buy own site
THE Waterford LGFA is to break new ground with the development of an 11-acre site that they will be able to call their own, one of the first all-female GAA facilities of its kind.
Work on the Ballinroad site, just beside the county’s greenway on the edge of Dungarvan, is due to commence by the summer and will eventually see a state-of-theart pitch, stand, changing-rooms, coach and car park facilities and a six-lane running track around the perimeter of the pitch constructed.
Traditionally, ladies teams have had to rely on GAA pitches to conduct training and play matches but this initiative by the ladies in Waterford represents a departure from that, giving them their own space that they will have control of.
Even as all the associations grow closer, the use of grounds has always been a contentious issue between them.
Cork have their own dedicated camogie grounds in Mahon on the outskirts of the city, while Armagh has developed a centre for ladies football in Killeen. Waterford ladies have 21 clubs serving more than 2,000 members and the facility, when it is completed by 2023, should alleviate much of the pressure on these players to find suitable facilities.
It is expected that part of the project will be funded by the sale of nearby development lands.
The Waterford ladies have been fundraising for this purchase since 2015 and have generated revenue through race days, dog nights and golf classics to get to where they are.