£20k Foyle Cup cashcame from soon-to-bedefunct Culture Co.

Darron Gibson, who launched this year's Foyle cup.

But the Sports Minister explained that the Tourism Minister Arlene Foster has been responsible for funding the gala football tournament since 2010.

Earlier this year the Sentinel reported how a fifty per cent drop in the money doled out by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) Event Fund for the Foyle Cup in 2013 related only to a portion of the predicted total budget for the competition.

Now the Sports Minister Carál Ní Chuilín has revealed £30k worth of funding for the tournament originated from her budget this year.

Ms Ní Chuilín stated: “Primary responsibility for providing support and funding to events, including sporting events such as the Foyle Cup, transferred in 2010 to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI).

“I understand that the Foyle Cup has been supported by DETI since then through the NI Tourist Board. Having said that, my Department has approved a one year pilot Sports Events Funding Programme which was launched by Sport NI on June 18, 2013, with a closing date of August 2, 2013 for applications to be submitted.

“During this current financial year (2013/14), the Foyle Cup received £20,000 through the Culture Company and the 2013 City of Culture programme. In addition, following a successful bid in the June Monitoring Round, an additional £10,000 each has been provided for the 2013 Foyle Cup and 2013 Milk Cup tournaments.”

Back in March the Sports Minister said she would not fund future Foyle Cup tournaments except in the context of an application, which was based on promoting equality and tackling poverty and social exclusion.

She stated: “Consideration may be given to future potential funding in the context of my Department’s priority of ‘Promoting Equality and Tackling Poverty and Social Exclusion.’”

The tournament regularly hosts teams from across the Irish Sea. In 2013 Nottingham Forest, Norwich City and Aberdeen all took part. Roughly, 200 teams took part in the premier youth soccer event. Everton and Republic of Ireland international opened this event.