ALL WEATHER PITCHES
FOCUS ON ALL WEATHER PITCHES This year, the Football Foundation helped to deliver 40 all-weather, floodlit, third generation (3G) pitches to projects across the country. Able to accommodate an average of 90 hours of playing time every week and unperturbed by changes to daylight hours, our 3G facilities have helped to increase access to community football for hundreds of thousands of people across the country.
NEW FACILITY FIT FOR A KING The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (CONEL) was in desperate need of a sustainable and reliable alternative to their inadequate natural grass pitches.
The solution came in the form of a £542,284 grant from the Premier League & The FA Facilities Fund to help build a brand new state-ofthe-art 3G pitch. The site was opened by ex-Tottenham Hotspur club captain and current club ambassador, Ledley King. The new facility is being used to house several programmes, centred around crime reduction and enhanced disabled footballing provision. It has also helped to forge a highly fruitful partnership with Leyton Orient FC, who run a Football Academy at the site in partnership with CONEL. The Academy sees students provided with top-quality coaching sessions and has proved to be the catalyst for remarkable success in their inaugural year, with the team crowned Association of English Colleges Football Association (EFCA) League champions. As a result, the team has been promoted to compete in the EFCA Category 1 League during the 2018/19 season, the highest level possible for college academies. Jonathan Silman, Head of Sport at CONEL said: “These achievements simply wouldn’t have been possible without this investment. The surface has allowed the boys to both play and train more regularly and the impact of this is highlighted by the fantastic performances we’ve seen as a result. “The site has also been a source for huge positivity in the area. For example, the West Lea Secondary Disability School have been using it to deliver disability sports activities and we’ve also seen programmes run by Enfield Borough council focused on the benefits of sports participation in overall crime reduction.”
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FOCUS ON THE FOOTBALL FOUNDATION
