By David Owen
February 4 – A further 80 English grass-roots football facilities are to get much-needed investment from a recently-established fund that draws on money from the Premier League, the UK Government and the Football Association (FA).
The facilities are to receive grants worth a total of £5.6 million from the Premier League & The FA Facilities Fund, launched in 2013 with the aim of upgrading grass-roots infrastructure and coaching. The fund is managed and delivered by the Football Foundation, the UK’s largest sports charity, which was established some 15 years ago.
A Foundation spokesman explained that a proportion of the cost of any given project is generally provided, with the balance obtained from other sources such as local councils and businesses. On this occasion, a further £12.1 million in partnership funding was generated, bringing to £17.7 million the overall sum to be invested through the foundation in the current so-called “funding window”.
Two previous tranches of investment from the fund, totalling £12.8 million, were awarded during the course of last year. These yielded a further £32.7 million in partnership funding. The new awards will bring to 235 the number of projects – from Middlesbrough in the north to Nailsea in the south – to benefit from fund contributions since it opened to applications just over a year ago.
Richard Scudamore, Premier League chief executive, said: “The Premier League’s investment in the Football Foundation – over £200 million to date – has already delivered 500 3G artificial grass pitches built in towns and cities across the country, as well as 874 changing pavilions and 3,266 real grass pitches with proper drainage systems.
“This latest round of grants will continue this important work providing young people with places to play sport.”
Helen Grant, the UK’s Sports Minister, described the fund as “a fantastic collaboration between government and the football authorities that is helping to strengthen the national game’s grass-roots right across the country”.
She went on: “Good facilities…are crucial to encourage and sustain participation as well as help develop the next generation of talent.”
According to data from Sport England, a total of 15.6 million people aged 16 and over played sport at least once a week in the year to October 2014. The number of weekly footballers was put at 1.9 million.
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