As Euro 2020 heads towards the knockout stages, visited Gunnersbury Park Sports Hub in West London to
participate in several sessions with students from local schools.
It comes after the government committed £25 million of new
funding to support the growth of grassroots football at the
Budget earlier this year – enough money to build around 700 new
pitches across the UK.
Chancellor of the Exchequer said:
Grassroots football and facilities like Gunnersbury Park play a
vital role in local communities, supporting jobs and developing
the stars of the future.
That’s why we invested £25 million of new money at the Budget
earlier this year - building on the £600 million of targeted
support we have provided for sport throughout the pandemic.
Government support like this will help the home nations find and
train up the stars of the future and I urge everyone to get
behind England and Wales as the remaining British teams in the
knockout stages of Euro 2020.
Mark Bullingham, FA Chief Executive, said:
Grassroots football has the power to positively impact the lives
of those that play, with the clubs sitting at the very heart of
their communities.
The recent £25m investment into grassroots football from the
Government, the first part of their £550m commitment, is welcomed
and will transform football facilities across the country.
It was fantastic to welcome the Chancellor to a grassroots
training session where he was able to see the top facilities, get
involved, meet the players and experience the benefits
first-hand.
At the visit earlier this week, the Chancellor met a disability
community sports group before helping to set up a training
session for an all-girls football group from local schools, along
with their coach, as well as Brentford FC player Joshua Dasilva.
Last year, the government introduced the £300 million Sport
Winter Survival Package to protect spectator sports in England
and, at Budget this year, a further £300 million was announced
for a Sport Recovery Package to continue to support clubs as fans
return to venues.
Separately, Sport England, which is funded by the government and
National Lottery, has provided £220 million to support community
sport clubs and exercise centres through the coronavirus
pandemic. The latest figures show that £10.5 million has already
been awarded to over 1,500 football clubs.
Sport England has also provided an extra £50 million to help
grassroots sports clubs and organisations as part of their
Uniting the Movement strategy.
Football Foundation figures show that football participation
increases by 10% at facilities like Gunnersbury Park which have
been awarded a Hubs grants. In 2017, this meant 250,000 more
people participated, a third of them women and girls.
Many football clubs at all levels of the UK domestic game have
benefited from the multi-billion-pound package of government
support, including the furlough scheme and Covid loan schemes.
Notes to editors
-
Gunnersbury Park Sports Hub is part of the separate Hubs
programme, which has received £4 million from the
government-backed Football Foundation, delivering for
community and grassroots sport, creating new jobs and
boosting people’s health and wellbeing
-
The Hubs Programme, formerly known as the Parklife Football
Facilities Programme, began in 2015 and aims to provide
quality grassroots football facilities in deprived
communities, ensuring that people of all ages can experience
the positive health and community benefits of participation
in sport
-
Figures from the Football Foundation show that participation
in football increases on average by 10% at grassroots
facilities that have been awarded a Hubs (Parklife) grant,
and multi-sport participation also increases by 12% at those
same sites. In 2017 this equated to 250,000 footballers, a
third of which were women and girls
-
£8 million provided will generate an annual investment of
around £43 million once match funding is taken into account,
which will deliver around 12 football hubs that could attract
over 300,000 participants.
-
The 2020 Budget allocated £8.5 million to continue the Hubs
(Parklife) football facilities programme in 20/21. The
government provided £8 million capital funding alongside the
Premier League and Football Association to match fund
investment in local, accessible football facilities, targeted
at deprived communities. Local authorities with a population
over 200,000 are eligible to apply.
