The money is part of a National Lottery-funded scheme, the allocation of which is controlled by the Sports Council.

Until now there has been no testing of any kind in the North's Irish league, either in or out of competitive football, in a bid to beat the drugs cheats.

The disclosure by the sports council that it will no longer accept the football association being allowed a drug dispensation that is refused to other major sports has been described as "a reality check".

But the chief executive of the IFA, Howard Wells, yesterday confirmed to the Sunday Tribune that the North's soccer authorities were determined to address the shortcomings in relation to drug testing.

Wells said there were those in the sport who refused to accept there could be any sort of drugs problem in Irish league football.

"To try to make the argument that simply because we have no evidence of drugs abuse in the game then it doesn't exist is to refuse to face reality, " he said. "There is no evidence of a drugs problem because we don't have any sort of testing programme for domestic football. That programme is part of the wider issue of putting in place the necessary structures to ensure that good governance is at the basis of the future development of the Irish League."

The association has already agreed with UK Sport, which oversees the carrying out of sports-related drug-testing in the United Kingdom, the framework of an anti-drugs policy.

But the Sunday Tribune has learned that the cost factors involved for struggling Irish league clubs to put in place the type of procedures required by UK Sport are viewed by many club administrators "as totally prohibitive".

Depending on the kind of test carried out and whether or not it was urine- or bloodbased, the cost of a single random examination would be in the region of 740. The testing of samples has to be carried out in laboratories in Britain.

With most Irish league clubs outside the big two of Linfield and Glentoran struggling to attract revenue-sustainable crowds on a regular basis, the additional costs of paying for a new drug-testing policy would, it is claimed, represent a crippling financial burden.

However a spokesman for the sports council said yesterday there could be no exemptions.

"There can be no halfway house on this matter. Other sports such as rugby and GAA have made the necessary provision to put in place credible drug-testing programmes.

The Irish Football Association cannot be treated any differently.

"The Irish league will not be able to access any of the 6m set aside for ground improvements until it can demonstrate that it is doing everything possible to ensure that drugs cheating is not going on in football."