During March and April 2020, clubs were successful in obtaining funding totaling £260,380 from the Football Foundation’s Pitch Improvement Revenue Grant. These grants allow clubs to pay for machinery, maintenance materials and contractor services that will improve the quality of their grass pitches.
Greg Nutt, Chairman of Old Tiffinians FC, said: “Football makes a huge difference to our players and the community here. We see first-hand the impact on players’ confidence, physical health and mental focus. To receive this help to improve and maintain our pitches 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 for our players who come to us from across South West London - and get even more people involved in the nation’s favourite game.”

Then as COVID-19 hit, both the Football Foundation and Sport England responded by realigning their funding and announcing emergency support for grassroots football.

Sport England announced the Community Emergency Fund, where organisations could apply for grants of between £300 and £10,000 to cover losses due to COVID-19. To date, a total of £121,245 has been received by AFA clubs to support them whilst we wait for the resumption of grassroots football.

Ronnie Robinson, Chairman of Norsemen FC said, "Norsemen is delighted that we have been awarded a six year revenue grant from the Football Foundation to fund Enhanced Grass Pitch Maintenance Works. We are putting together a programme of works to start during the summer and hope to see an improvement in our 5 full size and 2 junior pitches in the coming years.

Like many clubs we are grateful to have received a grant from the Sport England Community Emergency Fund. This money has been vital to the survival of the club as we still had to pay our ground rent which would have been impossible with the loss of income from match fees."

Meanwhile, the Football Foundation, working with The FA, DCMS and Premier League launched the Pitch Preparation Fund. 

This opportunity allowed clubs to apply for immediate funding to get their pitches match ready for when football is safe to return. AFA clubs obtained a total of £65,550, which has meant 92 pitches will be improved benefiting 337 teams.

James Tierney, Football Development Manager at the Amateur FA said, “It’s been great seeing the number of our clubs apply, and be successful, for funding over the past few months. We are all aware of the uncertainty the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the game, but those organisations that have been able to offer financial support have undoubtedly been appreciated and well-received within the Amateur FA”.

If you would like further information on facility funding, please contact Samantha Brown (Football Development Officer) on samantha.brown@amateur-fa.com

For information on what funding and support is available to you during COVID-19, please visit our funding and support page, by clicking HERE.