Ben Shephard, ITV’s Good Morning Britain and Sky Sports’ Goals on Sunday presenter, spoke of his delight after grassroots football in Sutton Coldfield received a £3000 boost in the form of a Grow the Game grant from the Football Foundation, the country’s largest sports charity.

The grant will allow newly promoted Sutton Coldfield Town to increase its commitment to youth football in the area by initially adding a new U14 team into the Midland Junior Premier League (MJPL) for next season and in subsequent years. This further extends the clubs thriving youth policy with existing teams at U16, U18 and U21 level and will enable the recruitment and further training of more qualified FA coaches. All of which hopefully increases the number of home grown players pushing for first team opportunities over the coming years.

The Premier League and The FA fund the Grow the Game scheme with £1.9m, which is delivered by the Football Foundation, the nation’s largest sports charity. The scheme is designed to increase participation in our national game by helping clubs to meet the essential costs of starting new teams.

The key strength of Grow the Game is that its participation increases are sustainable rather than transient. Its grants create a solid infrastructure of teams and newly-trained coaches in which new people can start playing the sport, rather than simply providing temporary activity sessions, which are then vulnerable to drops in participation once the programme ends.

This year sees a particular emphasis placed on increasing the number of teams and players from the Under-15 age bracket and above, to address the decline in participation that has traditionally occurred as young people leave school and college. The other key focus is on growing the numbers of girls’, women’s and disability teams.

Neil Murrall, Sutton Coldfield Town General Secretary said: “This funding from the Football Foundation provides the club with an excellent opportunity to increase our commitment to grassroots football in the area and is further evidence of our desire to provide promising youth players playing opportunities and so keep the club moving forward by investing in the future”

A Football Foundation Ambassador and a keen footballer himself, Ben Shephard said: “This Grow the Game funding, provided by the Premier League and The FA, is excellent news for Sutton Coldfield Town Football Club. They deserve real credit for working with the Football Foundation and Birmingham County FA to help secure the grant.

“Grow the Game funding makes a tangible difference, it helps to increase participation in the sport. It allows clubs at the lowest levels of the game to pay for things associated with starting new teams, like making sure their volunteer coaches can get qualified with FA coaching badges.”

For more information contact:
Neil Murrall, Sutton Coldfield Town FC m: 07535 345688 or suttoncoldfieldtown@gmail.com
Football Foundation at: events@footballfoundation.org.uk.

Notes to editors

Sutton Coldfield Town F.C. (nicknamed The Royals) is a non-league football club and was formed in 1879 (some sources state 1876). They were recently promoted to play in the Northern Premier League Premier Division and are largest team in a town with a population of over 105,000 people, which is more than that of the hometowns of many full-time professional teams.

About Grow the Game

During the 2013/14 season the Football Foundation through its Grow the Game scheme created:
• 1,753 new teams.
• 20,500 new football players per £1.5m invested.
• 6,071 new female footballers.
• 2,209 disabled footballers since 2010.
• 5,747 new coaching qualifications.

About the Football Foundation

The Football Foundation was launched in 2000. Since then, using money from its Funding Partners – the Premier League, The FA and the Government via Sport England, the Foundation has awarded around 13,000 grants worth more than £520m towards improving grassroots sport, which it has used to attract additional partnership funding of over £736m – over £1.24bn of investment into the grassroots game.

For more information about the Football Foundation visit www.footballfoundation.org.uk or follow us on Twitter @FootballFoundtn.