ADVANCED
GRASS PITCH REVOLUTION New funding to improve football pitches has the power to transform lives
Pitch would be considered very good for ‘community’ football
GOOD
Pitch meets the desired standard for ‘community’ football
BASIC
Pitch requires improvement
POOR
Pitch requires significant improvement
NB: Other standards/descriptions exist for higher levels of the game
N
ew and unprecedented funding to improve 20,000 community grass football pitches up and down the country over the next 10 years has been pledged by the Premier League, The Football Association (The FA) and the Government’s Football Foundation. It is added to the £684 million of these partners’ funding that has been invested over the past 20 years in over 17,300 grassroots football projects. The aim is to improve 20,000 grass football pitches across England so that they all meet the IOG’s “good” standard. The target is to: Improve the overall football experience for everyone (players, coaches and match officials) Reduce fixture postponements resulting from poorpitch quality Provide clear actions to pitch maintainers, helping them prepare better-quality pitches.
By Tom Rowley Key account manager (football)
By unlocking the power of pitches, the lives of players can be transformed and communities can be strengthened. To make this happen, The FA,
GRASS PITCHES TODAY Cuts in local authority funding have led to a decline in the quality of grass pitches in England. Grassroots football clubs tell us that pitches are their biggest issue.
1 in 8 1 in 3 150,000
grassroots clubs are satisfied with the quality of their grass pitches
grassroots pitches are rated as ‘good’ quality
14 THE GROUNDSMAN March 2020
matches were postponed last season
the Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG) and the Government charity, the Football Foundation, have joined forces to create the pitch quality standard (PQS) at Step 7 and below, i.e. football played at local community/league level. This is referred to as ‘community’ football. This grass pitch revolution is being instigated by: A new performance standard – identified from the IOG’s pitch grading framework for monitoring football pitch quality Working in partnership with the IOG through the Grounds and Natural Turf Improvement Programme The creation of a new digital tool (due this summer) to support site owners to assess the quality of their pitches and receive recommendations.
WHAT IS AVAILABLE?
A 10-year maintenance plan to improve pitches provided by the IOG regional pitch advisors A six-year grant, providing up to £2,100 (excluding VAT) for every 11-a-side pitch in the first two years and scaled down over six years (£1,785 for nine-aside and £1,470 for mini soccer) Grants to employ contractors and purchase materials Additional grants for 75% of the cost for new pitch maintenance equipment and machinery The grants are to improve grassroots community pitches; pitches used for Step 7 sites are also eligible if the predominant usage is for grassroots community teams. Applications are welcomed from clubs, leagues and other voluntary organisations. Public sector partners are encouraged to work with eligible applicants to take advantage of this opportunity. Don’t miss out: contact your local County Football Association to discuss how you can join the grass pitch revolution!
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For more information, visit www.thefa.com/CountyFA
