By David Owen
September 17 – Nottingham in the English Midlands has been named “city of football” by Sport England, the grass-roots funding body. The decision opens the way for the city – home to two Football League clubs, including Nottingham Forest, the former European champions under manager Brian Clough – to receive £1.6 million to endeavour to get more Nottinghamians playing football regularly.
One of the key elements in Nottingham’s bid – which beat rivals Manchester and Portsmouth for the award – was said to be a digital platform, called Playbook, designed to help those planning to put on football activities in the city target the right people, in the right places, at the right time, with relevant offers.
Phil Smith, Sport England’s director of sport, said that while football was England’s most popular team sport, there was still “a real capacity” for it to grow. “Nottingham has an exciting and inventive response to the challenge of getting more people to play the game and we will look forward to working with them to make this happen.”
For the Nottingham body, One Nottingham, Nigel Cooke said the award would “transform the footballing landscape in the city”.
One Nottingham, he said, would “continue to bring together organisations and experts from across the city to ensure we deliver an exceptional, joined-up and creative programme, resulting in a social football revolution”. He pledged to share insights “so that the rest of England can benefit”.
A total of 22 cities originally bid for the title in a process that had the backing of the Football Association (FA).
Kelly Simmons, FA director of national game and women’s football, said Nottingham’s plans “showed real strength in opening up opportunities for everyone in the city to get involved in the game…Football is our national game and it is vitally important that we get as many people as possible playing across the country in a way that they want at times convenient to them.”
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