Sported chief executive Adam Parr was on hand to welcome the sport for development charity's Northern Ireland members and to mark a successful year which has seen the charity recruit 200 member organisations and developed partnerships with key agencies in Northern Ireland to attract greater investment into the sport for development sector.

Over the past 12 months, Sported, which was founded in 2008 by former chief executive of the London 2012 bid team, Sir Keith Mills, has awarded over £100,000 ($160,000/€118,000) to its projects in Northern Ireland, which use sport as a way of helping disadvantaged young people from all backgrounds and affect social change.

One of those projects is called the Northern Ireland Street League, which uses football to change people's lives through building positive relations and a shared cultural identity in Belfast and challenges sectarian and racist attitudes which have often marred the sport in the past.

Players who take part in the league are the homeless, ex-offenders, drug and alcohol dependent individuals, long-term unemployed, refugees and asylum seekers and other disadvantaged groups with over 70 per cent of players have experiencing a significant positive life change as a result of participating in the league, according to Sported.

"It's fantastic that we're celebrating the one year anniversary of our launch in Northern Ireland," said Brenda Kelly, Sported's Northern Ireland manager.

"Since our launch, we've recruited 200 amazing grassroots organisations, which are all using sport to transform young lives, build stronger communities and create more opportunities for young people to fulfil their potential."

Speaking at the event, Parr paid tribute to the work of everyone involved in projects across the province and announced the roll-out of the charity's new impact measurement tool, Sportworks.

Sported Northern Ireland manager Brenda Kelly and chief executive Adam Parr (second and third from left) are joined by Sangita Patel, Justin McMinn and John News who are all involved in Sported projects in the province