Dorset Football Awarded Funding During 2020
There has been good news for clubs in Dorset who have benefitted from £334,952 of Football Foundation funding so far throughout 2020.
The Football Foundation is the charitable arm of The FA, The Premier League and Sport England and helps communities improve their local football facilities through football grants. They provide grants to support clubs with items from new goalposts to larger facility projects.
The impact of Covid-19 has been difficult for many clubs and the Football Foundation have been very responsive in creating specific Covid-19 funding to help clubs return to football safely.
The Pitch Preparation Fund supported 27 clubs who were awarded grants totalling £57,000 to help them get their pitches ready for when football returned following the first lockdown. The funding helped them with essential maintenance works which included vertical decompaction, slitting, over seeding, fertilising and weedkilling, as well as routine preparatory works such as grass cutting and the setting out and line marking of pitches.
The Club Preparation Fund saw 31 clubs awarded a grant of £500 each (£15,500 investment) to enable clubs to prepare their buildings to safely reopen in line with Government guidance around hygiene and social distancing. This included installing hygiene facilities, such as hand sanitiser dispensers, soap dispensers, paper towel dispensers and waste bins and installing adequate signage within their facility to ensure social distancing measure were adhered too.
The Matchday Support Fund provided grants totalling £73,500 that supported 11 clubs at Step 6 and below within the County to get their facilities ready for when league games would start again.
Three clubs were successful in being awarded Enhanced Grass Pitch Maintenance Funding totalling £116,534. This fund was set up to support clubs who had previously accessed the Pitch Improvement Programme, and had pitches that fell below the quality standard for pitches. The funding will help them improve their pitches over the course of the next 10 years with a supported package of maintenance planning.
The Football Foundation Small Grants scheme enables clubs to access up to 75% of funding to support small items or project work.
Fifteen clubs in Dorset have successfully been awarded grants from the Small Grants Scheme totalling £72,428. The grants have allowed clubs to purchase new football goals, portable floodlights, pitch maintenance equipment, storage containers and undertake minor refurbishments works to club changing rooms/pavilions.
For further information on funding to help support your club please contact Kath Purnell by email Kathryn.Purnell@dorsetfa.com or call 01202 688278.