Lucan giving back to community

LUCAN United are looking to make some major changes to their infrastructure in 2026 in an effort to become a totally sustainable football club,

Vinny Slevin of the club touched on the plans and ideas behind the move towards being sustainable.

“Last year the club were awarded the FAI Club Mark 2, being one of only 10 clubs to have that at the moment.

‘To be awarded that is not just football it is also the development and management of the club.

‘To obtain it we had to develop sustainability policies and accessibility policies and it opened our eyes to what we could do to improve the club. The two that we are focusing on in 2026 are sustainability and accessibility.”

The club applied for the climate grant last year from South Dublin County Council.

Under the grant the club is aiming to follow an example of others such as Forest Green Rovers who have achieved international recognition for their work of sustainability in football.

“It’s good news, lots of clubs get money and it’s all about football and their own performance but what about giving back, for us giving back one to the environment and the other is to the community.”

The club went about this process by getting a B.E.R assessment done on their clubhouse and from this assessment they have decided to develop a plan.

Some of the plan has already been initiated such as the introduction of bike racks to encourage people to cycle rather than drive however a number of other improvements are in the pipeline for the club.

The club hopes to implement a number of sustainable measures including solar panels to provide their own electricity, insulation for the building, implementing an air to water heat pump, looking to improve windows and doors and get them A rated as well as making a way to harvest their rainwater to promote recycling.

The club expects the grant to cover the costs of these refurbishments and improvements with the council offering up to €100,000 as part of the grant. It is not set in stone that the club will receive the grant and they will receive final confirmation in April.

The club has plans also to create a fund for future implementations as grants so they do not have to only rely on grants in the future.