Nearly £3million worth of funding has been secured to support Grassroots football in East Riding!

Essential funding with a project value £2,962,723.00 was secured during the 2019 / 20 season through collaborative work with several local and national partners including the Football Foundation, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Hull City Council, Clubs and Local Playing Field Associations

The funding will allow clubs and facilities to improve, upgrade and maintain their sites with coaches, players, match officials and spectators all set to benefit from the multi-million-pound investment.

Achieved primarily through the Football Foundation the grant-based funding is ring fenced so that it can only be spent on facility improvements works such as:

- Football Stadia

- Grass Pitch Maintenance

- Machinery

- Goalposts

The outbreak of COVID-19 also meant that as well as its core funding programme the Football Foundation invested heavily in the Pitch Preparation Fund and Club Preparation Fund with these two funding opportunities bringing £124,000 worth of additional funding to the East Riding.

Hathersage Rangers who play in the Hull and District Youth Football League are one club that received some of the £100,000 worth of funding which was awarded to clubs in our county for the purchase of new goalposts. Hathersage Rangers Chairman Neil Winn said:

“Having these goals will enable the young children from the local community to come together as a team and play the game of football. As a brand-new club, we are grateful for the help that we have received, as it means so much to the club, players and parents. The club is now more than ever determined to develop young players and give children the opportunity to play football.”

Another club that was successful in achieving funding from the Football Foundation is Hessle Sporting Club. 2020 East Riding FA Grassroots Football Volunteer of the Year and Hessle Sporting Club Chairman Charlie Walker said:

“The £74,312 grant we have received from the Football Foundation will go towards Enhanced Grass Pitch Maintenance work that will help us improve the standard of our pitch playing surface. The club will also invest around £34,000 of its own money over this period to make up a grand total of £108,312.00 for pitch maintenance, as a club we are proud and excited to getting started in the new year.

To go with the pitch improvement programme, we also received a grant from the Football Foundation for Pitch Maintenance Equipment to the sum of £15,671.00. This will go towards a new tractor, slitter and mower that will link in with our Grass Pitch Maintenance programme and will enable us to keep our pitch playing surface to a far better standard than we have ever had before.

The funding provided by the Football Foundation will help ensure Hessle Sporting Club is self-sufficient and in control of our own ground maintenance.”

Wilberfoss AFC are another club to benefit from the Football Foundation Pitch Improvement scheme. Wilberfoss, Kexby and Newton Playing Field Association (home of Wilberfoss FC) Vice Chairman Paul Gibney said:

“We would like to thank the East Riding County FA for inviting us to be part of the Football Foundations Pitch Improvement Scheme. We are delighted to have been accepted on to the schemes 10-year programme which will improve the quality of our grass football pitches for the enjoyment of our community. We have two adult and four junior pitches which will benefit from this scheme and the support is very much appreciated.

The Football Foundation continues to offer financial support for clubs in the East Riding with applications sometimes taking just a matter of minutes. For more information on what funding your club / facility is eligible to apply for please click here.