Footballers in Combe were celebrating today following a £5,000 Grow the Game grant awarded by the Football Foundation, the country’s largest sports charity.
The funding boost will allow Combe Junior Sports to develop football at the younger age groups and give more opportunities for children from the local community to get involved. This will help to give the club a strong backbone to enable it to sustain the growth of football in the village community for years to come.
The grant will be vital in ensuring that the cost of increasing numbers of coaches, helpers and players can be controlled and spent in the most efficient way for the club to be able to meet their long term aims.
The main beneficiaries of the grant will be the Under-6 and Under-7 age groups over the next two to three years.
Participation at the club is set to grow significantly with additional 20-30 young players joining the new age groups. Additionally new players will join the existing age groups already playing in the village. The grant will boost the number of teams run at the club from seven to nine and the club will now be able to train an additional four FA qualified coaches.
Funded by the Premier League, The FA, and the Government via Sport England, the Football Foundation is the nation’s largest sports charity. Since it was launched in 2000, the Foundation has awarded around 8,000 grants worth more than £420m towards improving grassroots sport, which it has used to attract additional partnership funding of over £520m.
Chris Drinkwater, Club Welfare Officer & Under-13’s Manager, at Combe Junior Sports, said “We founded the club in 1997 and have always had to work very hard to secure enough funds every year for us to be able to continue developing the club. The Football Foundation have given us a great opportunity to kick on and add two new teams at the lower age groups with this grant, which will greatly help not only bringing new children to the club but also bring children into football locally, whilst aiding us in strengthening the other age groups we currently run. ”
Paul Thorogood, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation said: “We warmly congratulate Combe Junior Sports and the Oxfordshire County FA for their hard work and dedication in securing this award.”
“Our Grown the Game scheme helps fulfil one of the Foundation’s core objectives, which is getting more people playing more football. During the 2009-10 season, Grow the Game projects attracted more than 21,000 new players to our national game.”
“This new project in Combe is but one example of thousands across the country that the Football Foundation is supporting with money provided by our funding partners – the Premier League, The FA and Government.”
