Stadium 'full of great memories' being demolished

Demolition work is under way at the Riverside Stadium in Drumahoe, County Londonderry, once the home ground of Institute FC.

The club was forced to vacate the stadium after severe flooding in 2017, and hopes of a return were ended by a infestation of Japanese knotweed.

Now competing in the NIFL Championship, Institute currently play their home matches at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, the ground of League of Ireland side Derry City.

Club chairman Bill Anderson said that while the demolition is a sad moment for the club, it also marks the beginning of a new chapter, with hopes of returning to the Waterside through plans for a modern multi-purpose stadium at Clooney Park West.

The demolition work comes as Institute, along with other football clubs across Northern Ireland, await news on Thursday of whether or not they have secured any money from the Northern Ireland Football Fund.

Football clubs in the Premiership, Championship and Premier Intermediate leagues and NIFL Women's Premiership, along with Derry City, have applied for a share of the £36.2m of government funding

Applications closed in March, with 41 clubs from both the men's and women's game eligible to apply.

The fund, originally launched in 2011 as the Sub-Regional Stadia Programme, aims to support the development of football facilities across the country.

Founded in 1905, Institute FC moved to the Riverside Stadium in 1980.

The club then entered then into a 25-year lease with Londonderry YMCA so they could play their home games at the site.

The floods in August 2017 saw almost two-thirds of the north west's average monthly rainfall in a single night, with extensive damage caused to the stadium.

In November 2018, the club was told it would be "very difficult to get flood insurance" for the Riverside Stadium, which sits on the banks of the River Faughan, following the 2017 floods.

With no option of returning, the football club then applied to the council to have the stadium demolished in February 2022.

Mr Anderson said the club had endured "many low points" in its 125-year history, but had always prided itself on its resilience and ability to "bounce back."

He said Institute was hoping that an allocation from the fund would help them realise their dream of returning to the Waterside.

"We hope it's the start of a new era," Mr Anderson told BBC Sport NI's Sportsound.

"I'm very positive about the future, but there is also real sadness over the demolition of the Riverside, which had been our home since 1980.

"Many 'Stute supporters have great memories tied to that little ground, and many people really cherished watching football there."

Mr Anderson confirmed that "everything will be knocked down and cleared from the site," with the area returned to greenfield land.

He said the club hoped to "reuse, recycle and re-purpose as much of the old stadium as possible" in the proposed development of a new ground at Clooney Park West.

Looking ahead, Mr Anderson stressed that the proposed stadium in the Waterside would be more than just a football ground.

"This isn't going to just be a building for football - football will be a by-product," he said.

"It will be used by the community, for the community, so even if anything were ever to happen to Institute Football Club, there will always be a facility there, asset-locked and belonging to the community for the long term."