Stanfield savours U19 success

By Andrew Haslam in Belfast

As the 2004/05 UEFA European Under-19 Championship enters its final stages, tournament director Craig Stanfield and his staff can look back on the long process that brought the event to Northern Ireland and made it such a success and also consider the implications for the future.

'Huge success'
"I think the tournament's been a huge success for us here in Northern Ireland," Stanfield told uefa.com. "The organising committee has worked tirelessly to do everything that UEFA has asked of us, and I think from UEFA's point of view things have gone according to plan.

Lengthy process
"It's been a long process, dating back to 2001 when we were asked to prepare a bid to UEFA," Stanfield, the Irish Football Association's (IFA) head of competition services, went on. "I was in charge of preparing the bid document, from where we moved on to acquire sponsorship and funding from the public sector. These people don't just give you money so we had to convince them it was a worthy cause, and thankfully they've all embraced this tournament."

Ground improvements
Having secured hosting rights, sponsorship and funding, the real logistical work began, as Stanfield acknowledged. "The next step was preparing the grounds, which we knew would have to be improved to adequate standard. All five stadiums had to be improved, some required more work than others. We received over €880,000 from local government and I think the changes, certainly at Newry and Lurgan, have been a major, major step."

Economic impact
In order to secure funding for those stadium improvements, a business case was prepared and submitted to local government. "We engaged the services of PricewaterhouseCoopers to prepare that appraisal, and we're confident that the economic benefits to Belfast and Northern Ireland will more than justify that," Stanfield said. "The tournament itself has brought people over to Northern Ireland who've spent two and a half weeks here. People from UK Sport, one of our funding bodies, have been over here preparing an economic impact study, the results of which we'll get after the tournament."

Committees founded
Preparations picked up pace at the end of 2004, with an event management company established and some key sub-committees appointed to work under that board. These sub-committees dealt with marketing, public relations, sponsors and financial and operational matters.

Good attendances
The thorough planning has been amply rewarded according to Stanfield, who said: "What has pleased me and [IFA] president Jim Boyce, has been the attendances at matches. Jim and myself have been delighted that we've managed to get crowds in excess of 1,000 people for games not involving Northern Ireland. It's been taken to the hearts of the people.

Media coverage
"Another pleasing aspect has been the level of coverage in the local media. Youth football in general suffers a little bit and perhaps they don't get as much exposure as they should, but we can have no complaints from this tournament. We've had a massive advertising campaign around Belfast, on billboards, buses, radio and television and I think it's all increased awareness that this event is taking place."

Feel-good factor
With only the final to come, Stanfield's thoughts are turning towards the future, and he thinks the championship could leave a lasting impression on the country. "We've improved facilities, we've developed the grounds and we hope to encourage supporters to come back and attend these games in the future," he said. "There's been a real feel-good factor around this tournament. Let's hope it goes from strength to strength from here."