I write to inform your readers of my concern in relation to the extremely poor sports facilities available for major events and, indeed, the general lack of modern leisure amenities in our own city.

I have recently attended two professional boxing tournaments in Ballina, Co. Mayo and in nearby, Letterkenny, and I was stunned at the excellent facilities located in those towns.

Making matters even worse is the fact that in Magherafelt, Co. Derry, a brand new state-of-the-art Leisure Centre has been opened and that facility includes a 'third generation grass' football pitch; four indoor football pitches; an indoor running track and a conference centre!

It must be pointed out that the towns mentions above - much smaller than our own - now have modern facilities which will see those venues successfully host major sporting and cultural events in the future.

It certainly says a great deal about these areas and, indeed, it is a credit to the respective local Councils who had the foresight to plan and build such impressive facilities on behalf of their own communities.

The two boxing promotions I attended were televised 'live' nationally and brought visitors into Letterkenny and Ballina which, obviously, contributed significantly to the local economies.

However, when I now stand back and consider what Derry has to offer on a sporting and leisure front, I find myself extremely disappointed.

Derry City Council clearly has failed to move with the times and as far as I can make out, the last major spend on leisure within the Council's area appears to have have been the construction of the Lisnagelvin Leisure Centre which opened back in 1981 - that's 27 years ago!

I think it's a sad indictment to the successive Councils who governed the local area since then. The Council appears to have squandered ratepayers' money on 'white elephants' and useless projects over the past two decades.

In my mind, I honestly believe that Derry City Council's policy is to attempt to close leisure facilities and allow centres to become rundown and thus face certain closure.

The imminent closure of the Brandywell Indoor Sports Centre, coupled with the failure to provide much needed football pitches in the Brandywell area, springs to mind. But, then again, Derry City Council is not alone in its neglect of leisure facilities in our city.

From a personal point of view, and while having been and continue to be involved in local amateur boxing circles for many years, it is also sad to see the demise of St.