Haverhill Community Sports Association awarded funding to revamp football facilities

People living in the Haverhill area are set to benefit from fresh investment into local football facilities. Haverhill Community Sports Association have been awarded a grant from the Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation, to improve their pitch maintenance programme over the next six years at the facility.

The Football Foundation is the UK’s largest sports charity and exists to improve the experience of playing football for everyone, by championing fair access to quality facilities.

This grant will enable Haverhill Community Sports Association, which provides football facilities for the local community for over 800 players the chance to participate each week at improved grass pitch facilities.

Players will be able to enjoy better quality pitches, which will represent a significant improvement on the existing maintenance programme, which was prone to waterlogging, and in need of further renovation works due to the volume of usage.

Haverhill Community Sports Association worked with the Football Foundation and the Suffolk FA to secure a £34440 grant towards the project broken down over the next six years.

Peter Betts, HCSA Facilities & Football Development Manager, said: “Football makes a huge difference to the players, coaches and community here. We see first-hand the impact on players’ confidence, physical health and mental focus. To receive this funding from the Premier League, The FA and the Government through the Football Foundation means a lot to us, as it will help us to improve grassroots sport in Haverhill and get even more people involved in the nation’s favourite game.”

Robert Sullivan, Interim Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, said: “We know the huge benefits playing regular football can have on individuals’ physical and mental well-being.  That’s why we’re committed to transforming the face of grassroots football facilities in this country.  It’s therefore very welcome news to hear that this funding will support Haverhill Community Sports Association in developing an enhanced pitch maintenance programme for their local community.

“Working with our partners – the Premier League, The FA, government and Sport England – we will be investing in over £1bn worth of local facilities across the country over the next decade.  We believe we can transform lives and strengthen communities by unlocking the power of pitches and this is another project that brings us closer to that ultimate goal.”

Notes to editors:

The Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation is the largest sports charity in the UK.  It champions and supports fair access to quality football facilities for everyone, regardless of postcode, gender, race, disability or place.

The Foundation receives money from the Premier League, The FA and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, through Sport England. This is matched with partnership funding and awarded as grants to create outstanding grassroots facilities that enable better games and attract more players, helping to transform communities.

The Football Foundation celebrates its 20th anniversary next year. Since 2000, it has awarded more than 17,300 grants to improve facilities worth more than £684m – including 829 artificial grass pitches, 3,175 natural grass pitches and 1,100 changing facilities. This has attracted an additional £870m of partnership funding – totalling over £1.5bn investment in grassroots football so far.

Through the Foundation, the Premier League, The FA, DCMS and Sport England have come together to create the National Football Facilities Strategy (NFFS) that will guide work over the next 10 years to transform many more local facilities. Local Football Facility Plans (LFFP) are being created to identify priority projects where demand is greatest, and the impact will be strongest and help stimulate the action required to deliver them.

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