Statement by TUV Strangford Assembly candidate Stephen Cooper:
”The success of our football team and golfers has demonstrated that sportsmen and women from Northern Ireland can compete with the best on the international stage.
“Sadly, however, all is not positive when it comes to sport in Northern Ireland.
“As any football fan knows, the Belfast Agreement has led to a situation where the Republic of Ireland have been able to poach some of our promising footballers.
“In addition, when it comes to other sports, young men and women do not have the right to choose which national flag they compete under.
“TUV will fight for the right of athletes from Northern Ireland in all sports to compete on the international stage for the United Kingdom and have already demonstrated our ability to do so.
“In November 2012 TUV ensured that the issue of sectarianism in boxing reached the floor of the Northern Ireland Assembly when Jim Allister proposed an amendment to a motion about Belfast City Council’s Boxing Strategy.
“A report which flowed from the experience of Sandy Row Boxing Club, commissioned by the Sinn Fein/IRA Minister, highlighted the fact that boxers from Northern Ireland cannot compete under the Union Flag at the Olympics. The authors agreed that “the nationality issue in the Olympics is a nettle that needs to be grasped”, not just when it comes to boxing but also in relation to other sports.
‘I have seen personally the positive aspects of boxing within my community, helping to break down barriers between young and old, male and female, from different cultures and backgrounds.
“It is absolutely vital that Northern Ireland is given its own Northern Ireland Amateur Boxing Federation and I welcome moves to get this off the ground, albeit in the face of opposition from Sport NI and the Department.
“TUV will fight to ensure that sporting representatives from Northern Ireland have the right to represent the UK on the world’s biggest stage and to represent Northern Ireland in international competition.
“TUV will continue to highlight inequality in funding for sporting organisations, and continue to oppose preferential treatment of the GAA while other sporting bodies are left comparatively isolated and in some cases, financially ignored.
”It is high time our status within the United Kingdom was reflected in all sporting competitions at international level.”