THE Education Department has vigorously defended itself against accusations that it rejected a funding offer of up to £500,000 for the planned new all-weather sports facilities at St Sampson’s High. Guernsey Football Association LBG chairman Dave Nussbaumer is fuming that taxpayers’ money is being used to fund the school project and that an offer from the Football Foundation Fund has been dismissed.

He has demanded that Education call an emergency meeting to reconsider its decision.

He believed this area was ideal for full-sized floodlit pitch facilities that could be used not only by the school pupils, but by island sports including football and hockey up to seven days a week.

‘If it’s not too late, let common sense prevail – don’t use taxpayers’ money,’ he urged.

‘If this was a decision made in the private sector, heads would roll. I would love to know who made this decision and they should be named and shamed,’ said Nussbaumer.

‘Why have States Education chosen to use taxpayers’ money when there was money available from the private sector to use these facilities?’ he asked.

‘I’m absolutely disgusted with the decision – it’s an appalling decision. I’m gobsmacked at the arrogance almost of their stance here. They have done something like this without thinking of the bigger picture,’ he claimed.

‘It’s one of the most appalling, if not the most appalling decision ever made involving sport and education.’

But Education has hit back strongly at the criticism and said it was surprised at the comments as no offer of £500,000 funding had ever been made.

‘Discussions with the Guernsey Football Association several years ago indicated that any funding available would be at a much lower level and the conditions imposed by the funding may well have compromised the use of the sports facilities by the schools for which they were designed,’ it said in a statement yesterday.

Education claimed that Nussbaumer did not appear to be in possession of all the facts regarding the discussions over the possibility of funding from the Football Foundation Fund or the facilities being built at the new school.

The department has confirmed that during the early stages of the development of the proposals for the new schools it did consider whether it could apply for funding from the Football Foundation Fund.

‘It is not true to say that there was half a million pounds on offer from the fund. The scheme is very focused on providing facilities for football and in schools we have a commitment to also provide facilities for a range of other sports. The conditions attached to the Football Foundation Fund scheme mean that the less you use the facilities for football, the smaller the amount of funding you are entitled to,’ said Alun Williams, Education’s lifelong learning manager, who was involved in the talks.

‘The funding available is also a one-off with no ongoing support for the management and maintenance of the facilities. When we looked into this in more detail, we realised that it would end up costing the Education Department more in the long run than the funding that was on offer.

‘We also have an obligation to consider our neighbours adjacent to the schools development when using floodlighting and allowing community use during the evenings and weekends. We have to strike a balance between school use, community use and acceptable wear and tear. Unfortunately the criteria attached to the Football Foundation funding just couldn’t be accommodated without affecting this balance,’ he said.

The GFA supremo has struggled to understand Education’s stance, especially as football and cricket go into the school at their own expense with development officers.

Education last week hit back at accusations its planned sports pitch is too small and insisted the brief was for a school-sized pitch appropriate for the school.

‘I’m absolutely astonished and appalled at the decision to go with an undersized facility,’ said Nussbaumer.

He insisted that the GFA had approached Education with a funding offer for the facilities of up to £500,000 from the Football Foundation fund.

‘What a backward step to the island’s sports, particularly football and hockey, who are in desperate need of those facilities,’ he said.

‘I would have liked to have seen a working partnership with sports and Education. We are a small island of 24 square miles desperate for this location.’

Education has confirmed that all the sports facilities and associated changing facilities will be available for community use after school hours, at weekends and during school holidays.

The department’s planning manager (schools) Geraint Ap Sion insisted all the sports facilities had been designed to comply with the specifications required for use by young people between the ages of 11 and 16.

‘The synthetic pitch to which Mr Nussbaumer refers is being built to comply with the guidelines laid down by the Football Association itself for a pitch to be used by this age range. As well as being appropriate for school use, which must be our prime objective, this pitch is the perfect size for small-sided games which are an excellent way of developing skills,’ he said.

‘The Hockey Association has a thriving development league of small sided games, as does the GFA, and I know they often struggle to find appropriate-sized pitches for these games and other training sessions. The synthetic pitch is actually around 90% of the size of a full-sized hockey pitch.’

In June the GFA’s director of youth and football development, Chris Schofield, said the artificial pitch would also prove popular with the GFA for representative training sessions and also as a venue for coach education, according to Education.

‘I hope the politicians standing for election think very carefully about this because no sportsman should ever vote for them. It’s disgraceful,’ Nussbaumer has said.

He suggested there had been virtually no dialogue.

‘It just would not happen in the private sector. Why should taxpayers pick up the bill when private sector money is available?’

With the island’s financial situation and just months away from the introduction of zero-10, he claimed Education seemed intent on creating a deeper black hole than the one which already exists.

And after the debacle with student loans when Education’s minister and deputy minister did a U-turn, he was not surprised at what is happening with the sports facilities at the new school.