Tony Hawk: Famous skateboarder backs Portrush skatepark calls

Tony Hawk was speaking at a conference in San Diego

One of the world's most famous skateboarders, Tony Hawk, has backed calls for a skatepark in Portrush, County Antrim.

He was speaking at a conference in San Diego, California, when he gave his support to the decades-long campaign.

He said a facility would be used from sun up to sundown and that there were more people interested in the sport than is often realised.

"There's a lot of stigma attached to skateboarding," he said.

"It's all very antiquated but if you dig deep you will see there are these people and skaters who have a passion for what they do."

Mr Hawk was responding to a question by an Ulster University academic on how skateboarders can be taken seriously as users of public space on the north coast.

Videos which highlighted the experiences of skaters in Portrush were also shown at the conference.

There has been a decades-long campaign for a skateboard park in Portrush

Dr Jim Donaghey asked how they could convince the council that adequate urban sports facilities would benefit the whole community.

In response, Mr Hawk said skaters were "determined, they're persistent, they just love to skate, they're not trying to cause trouble".

"The only reason you see them as troublemakers is because you won't provide a facility for them to do what they love doing so they have to resort to public property," he added.

In 2022, Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council removed ramps from Station Square citing health and safety risks.

The equipment was returned but barriers have since been erected in the public square.

"All the change that happens in Portrush marginalises skateboarders, which is a really strange thing because Portrush is so much associated with skateboard culture," Dr Donaghey said.

"If you look at other sports cultures in Portrush you might think of golf, motorbikes, lawn bowls even and, of course, surfing - they're all part of the tourist identity Portrush puts forward of itself and that's brilliant, it's vibrant.

"And I think skateboarding is and should be taken seriously as part of that overall culture."

Campaigners say there are skateboard parks in many other parts of Northern Ireland but not Portrush

Slaine Brown started skateboarding in Portrush in 1995 and has been filming the scene ever since.

"It hit me really hard how long it's been - year after year we've been asking the council again and again can we have a skatepark" he said.

"It does make me feel emotional that after all this time - I've been skating for 29 years and we have to take it to a world audience."

Mr Brown said skateboarders had gone from skating in a much bigger space in the town "to this really tiny square which we've now been caged into".

"It is interesting to think we're now in the year 2023 and the space we've had is reduced," he said.

"I've skated all around the world - in Hong Kong, Australia, America, all around Europe.

Tony Hawk skateboarding at an event in Sydney in 2018

"I've been to places in eastern Europe where the council provided little parks the space of this but the ramps were way better.

"We had parks built in Belfast, Banbridge, Newtownabbey - which is one of the biggest ones in the UK - Carrickfergus, Ballymena. Antrim is getting a park, Newtownards has a park.

"And every time we go to those skateparks, the local skaters tell us we still can't believe that Portrush hasn't got one."

The council said it is currently working with a local group to support the development of skateboarding facilities in Portrush.