Footballers in Stafford 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 Stafford Town FC to start five new teams for the upcoming season, bringing the total to 24, with a further four planned over the following two seasons.
Participation at the club is set to grow significantly with an additional 60 children up to the age of 16 benefiting from the grant. The club will now be able to train five additional FA qualified coaches, thus improving the quality of the coaching experience for participants.
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.
Gordon Evans, Chairman at Stafford Town Football Club, said: “Without these grants from the Football Foundation supported by the Staffordshire FA we would find it increasingly difficult to continue to develop new teams. The club is extremely grateful to both organisations.”
Paul Thorogood, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation said: “We warmly congratulate Stafford Town Football Club and the Staffordshire County FA for their hard work and dedication in securing this award.”
“Our Grow 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 Stafford 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.”
