FOOTBALL CLUBS BID TO STEM OMAGH FUND ROW
Football clubs bid to stem Omagh Fund Row
By Peter McVerry
TWO football clubs today stepped in to help defuse a storm over the money raised from a series of glamour games in aid of the Omagh Fund.
Omagh Town FC pledged to donate every penny of profit from high-profile games against Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea to the fund. And generous Liverpool today offered to pay the cost of their own flights if it helped increase the money going to victims.
Omagh Town FC organised the games last year after the bomb which killed 29 people and injured over 200 in the town.
The games raised almost �200,000. Each of the three English teams waived their match fees but the costs for flights, accommodation, security, insurance and ground improvements were all met by Omagh Town FC.
Initial reports had claimed that only �15,000 would go to the fund, while later it was claimed that nothing at all would go after Omagh Town had charged for their services.
However, club secretary Pat McGlinchey, one of the driving forces behind the initiative, today dismissed those reports as "rubbish".
"People just seem to be picking figures out of thin air and then politicians jump on the bandwagon and condemn what was a very real attempt to help the people of this town in their hour of need," he said.
And Liverpool executive vice-chairman, Peter Robinson, said the club was willing to pay its own flight costs.
"We offered to do that at the time and that offer still stands today," he said.
Mr McGlinchy said: "Omagh Town always said that these games would have high costs.
"But the aim was never to make a huge amount of money. Other people were organising events to raise money.
"What we wanted to do was lift the spirits of the people in the town by bringing over top-class sides and world-class players.
"Had we wanted to raise more money then we could have accepted an offer to take a match to Windsor Park in Belfast.
"Omagh Town Football Club will not make one penny from this.
"Our committee, their relatives, families, friends and supporters spent countless hours every day for three months on these games."
Relatives of victims, angry at reports that the games would raise so little for the fund, met Omagh District Council chief executive John McKinney. The council and relatives of victims are to examine the accounts of the games when released later this month.
Michael Gallagher, whose son Adrian was killed in the atrocity, said he was heartened by the news that Omagh Town FC were not taking any money from the games. The total raised for the fund now stands at �6.5m.
By Peter McVerry
TWO football clubs today stepped in to help defuse a storm over the money raised from a series of glamour games in aid of the Omagh Fund.
Omagh Town FC pledged to donate every penny of profit from high-profile games against Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea to the fund. And generous Liverpool today offered to pay the cost of their own flights if it helped increase the money going to victims.
Omagh Town FC organised the games last year after the bomb which killed 29 people and injured over 200 in the town.
The games raised almost �200,000. Each of the three English teams waived their match fees but the costs for flights, accommodation, security, insurance and ground improvements were all met by Omagh Town FC.
Initial reports had claimed that only �15,000 would go to the fund, while later it was claimed that nothing at all would go after Omagh Town had charged for their services.
However, club secretary Pat McGlinchey, one of the driving forces behind the initiative, today dismissed those reports as "rubbish".
"People just seem to be picking figures out of thin air and then politicians jump on the bandwagon and condemn what was a very real attempt to help the people of this town in their hour of need," he said.
And Liverpool executive vice-chairman, Peter Robinson, said the club was willing to pay its own flight costs.
"We offered to do that at the time and that offer still stands today," he said.
Mr McGlinchy said: "Omagh Town always said that these games would have high costs.
"But the aim was never to make a huge amount of money. Other people were organising events to raise money.
"What we wanted to do was lift the spirits of the people in the town by bringing over top-class sides and world-class players.
"Had we wanted to raise more money then we could have accepted an offer to take a match to Windsor Park in Belfast.
"Omagh Town Football Club will not make one penny from this.
"Our committee, their relatives, families, friends and supporters spent countless hours every day for three months on these games."
Relatives of victims, angry at reports that the games would raise so little for the fund, met Omagh District Council chief executive John McKinney. The council and relatives of victims are to examine the accounts of the games when released later this month.
Michael Gallagher, whose son Adrian was killed in the atrocity, said he was heartened by the news that Omagh Town FC were not taking any money from the games. The total raised for the fund now stands at �6.5m.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0735
Published Date: 15-Mar-00
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