Emergency fund to aid clubs hit by Storm Desmond

[FF News]

A £750,000 emergency fund has been set up by The FA, the Premier League and Sport England to help grassroots football clubs which have seen their facilities affected by flooding caused by Storm Desmond.

Pitches, changing rooms and spectator facilities across the north of England have borne the brunt of the effects of strong winds and heavy rain fall, meaning that matches and training sessions have been postponed and many facilities are now unsafe for use.

The fund aims to rebuild and repair grassroots football pitches and facilities that have suffered storm damage, enabling football to continue across the affected regions as quickly as possible.

It has been co-ordinated through the Football Foundation and will be administered by the six County FAs across the regions affected – Cumberland, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmorland and West Riding.

FA Chief Executive Martin Glenn said: “Once the scale of the impact of the recent storms became clear, The FA and its funding partners came together to make funds available to support stricken clubs.

“The funds are intended to make facilities safe and fit for purpose again, which is one way in which we can help communities return to normality after the devastating impact of the floods. We know we need to offer access to this money quickly and we are making sure this will happen through the County FAs.”

The funding is available for grassroots football clubs and those across all levels of The FA National League System (Step 1 to Step 7) with facilities that have suffered damage. Clubs who feel they have been affected should talk to their local County FA. The following link contains contact information for all County FAs: http://www.thefa.com/countyfa.

The Emergency Football Relief Fund is derived from £500,000 which has been invested by the Premier League & The FA Facilities Fund (funded by the Premier League, The FA and the Government/Sport England) with a further £250,000 coming from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund (funded by the Premier League).

Source: The Football Association

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