Dudley football club scoops £800,000 award

A Dudley football club has been awarded grant of £800,000 to develop 11 full-size football pitches, along with changing rooms, toilets and car parking.

Kewford Eagles, from Wall Heath, were given the money by the Football Foundation, the largest football charity, which is the largest single grant that has been awarded so far this year.

The Football Foundation is funded by the Premier League, The FA, and the Government through Sport England and offers 8,000 grants worth more than £420m towards improving grassroots sport, which it has used to attract additional partnership funding of over £520m.

Kewford Eagles have around 500 children playing for them including those with disabilities and the new facility will provide the children with a safe environment to enjoy good healthy exercise.

Charity Trustee and Club Welfare Officer Lynn Boleyn said: "We are delighted that the Football Foundation have awarded us this significant amount of money towards our grassroots project which is great news for the club and the whole community.

"Without this funding our project would not be able to go ahead and we are therefore very grateful to the Foundation for their very generous support."

The overall project which is planned to take place on the 30 acres of land the club is leasing next to Dudley Kingswinford Rugby Club in Wall Heath and is costing around £1,076,560.

Chris Kelly, MP for Dudley South, said that this will have a great effect on the local area and that Dudley will be "a stronger and better place to live".

"I am delighted to hear that the Football Foundation has awarded this grant to Kewford Eagles FC. The committed volunteers, who give up their own time to help run this club should feel proud of what they have achieved.

"I look forward to hearing of Kewford Eagles' continued success in the future."

Paul Thorogood, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, said: "I commend Kewford Eagles FC and the Birmingham County FA for working tirelessly to secure this funding and I look forward to seeing the end result in the near future.

"This year is an exciting time for sport in this country and a tremendous opportunity to create a grassroots legacy. The hosting of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will inspire generations of people up and down the country to reap the rewards that sport has to offer.

"The Football Foundation is dedicated, with funding provided from the Premier League, The FA and government, to raising the standard of grassroots community sports facilities and to getting more people actively playing the national sport."