The Football Foundation, the UK’s largest sports charity aiming to transform the landscape of grassroots sport in England, will invest a projected £92 million over the next three years into multi-sports projects to ensure more people have ample places to play. This is an exciting announcement for organisations and players alike, and for anyone who is associated with sports.
What is Football Foundation’s multi-sport commitment plan?
The Football Foundation believes that sport and facilities play a remarkable role in the levelling up agenda of our society. Local sports clubs, gyms and fitness centres act as the lifeline for a nation as they provide a place for people to go out, get physically active and socialise. Helping these venues maintain and develop their facilities will build a better future for sports across the nation.
Everyone deserves a great place to play.
— Football Foundation (@FootballFoundtn) September 3, 2022
Find out more about our new game-changing multi-sport commitment ⚽️🏉🏏🏀
The Football Foundation is looking to increase its funding for multi-sport facilities from 30% to 40% over the next three years, with a projected £92 million to be spent on football-led projects that include at least one additional sport, such as rugby union, rugby league, cricket, netball, and basketball.
PlayZones Programme
PlayZones are inclusive, safe and accessible outdoor facilities that will be available for community use day and night, all year round. They have been designed specifically to cater to 4 priority groups to provide them easy access to secure facilities: lower socio-economic groups, women & girls, disabled people and ethnically diverse communities.
The multi-sport project aims to work towards building enough safe and inclusive places for people to play irrespective of their backgrounds, thanks to an additional investment of £13.5 million from the Premier League. The Football Foundation plans to deliver up to 300 PlayZones over the next 3 years with the first one to be opened in 2023.
The PlayZones Programme is designed to tackle inequalities in all levels of physical activity and enable easy access to facilities by funding community-led spaces. The project plans to deliver new or refurbished outdoor spaces designed for football and a range of other sports that will allow priority groups (communities with the greatest need) to be more active. The Football Foundation have collaborated with Bookteq to use our smart venue access solution, Lockteq, which grants easy, secure and contact-free access to their PlayZone sites.
PitchPower
Another crucial aspect of the multi-sport commitment is the use of the innovative PitchPower app which is designed to inspect and improve grass pitches. With this free-to-use app, community clubs and organisations can perform grass pitch inspections at their sites, and receive recommendations from the Grounds Management Association (GMA) to improve the grass pitch quality of venues. This will change the future of grass pitch sports in the country as almost 90% of affiliated football matches are played on natural grass.
Sports England’s Tim Hollingsworth said, “I am pleased that 40% of the Football Foundation’s funding over the next three years will also have a multi-sport benefit in addition to football – this is huge and will benefit multi-sport pitches and facilities up and down the country, ensuring more people can play more sport, more often.”
This announcement aligns with the kick-off of the upcoming football and rugby season and it’s perfect timing for community clubs and sports facilities to access the support and funding from the Football Foundation’s multi-sport project and the PitchPower app. Those venues looking for funding to improve their 3G pitches, grass pitches, changing rooms, etc, can check out the Football Foundation’s ‘Looking for funding page’ to apply for a grant.
