‘Pitch perfect’ £26k fund helps solve flood damage

Sunday 14 June 2020

A football club whose pitch was ruined by flooding at the beginning of the year and during lockdown has benefited from a cash boost from a scheme set up by the Premier League and FA.

St Clement’s was one of 26 football pitches and training areas to score a slice of the £26,000 Pitch Preparation Fund (PPF), which was also supported by the Football Foundation, to support the game and give pitches some 'TLC' while many clubs struggle due to covid-19.

It provides grants to clubs that have lost out on normal revenue streams during the outbreak and accompanying lockdown so that they can get pitches ready for when it is safe play football again. 

This follows news that the FA’s decision to scrap the last season meant local club, Jersey Bulls, missed out on their promotion to the next division.

Pictured: The Bulls missed out on their promotion after a winning streak last season. 

Jersey applied to the fund in May so that 26 football pitches and training areas will be made match-fit for when public health advice allows sporting events to resume.

Among the Jersey clubs to successfully apply for funding were St Clement, who suffered severe flooding of their pitch during the 2019-20 season.

St Clement Sports Club Vice President Peter Gully said: "As a result of the bad weather at the beginning of 2020 and then the lockdown, we had not been able to mow our football pitches. We had to call in outside contractors to cut the grass to a level whereby our tractor could cope again. The grass had grown extremely high by usual standards and a lot of time and machinery were involved in returning the grass to the level where we could maintain the cutting.

"On behalf of the club, I applied to the Football Foundation for a grant in the sum of £2,500, being £1,500 for our main pitch and £1,000 for our smaller 'mini' pitch and awaited their decision. This duly arrived on Thursday, informing us that we had been successful. This means that we will now recoup the money paid to the outside contractors and the balance can be used to cover the cost of fuel and servicing of the tractor for the coming season, or perhaps verti-draining our pitches.

"We are naturally extremely grateful to the Football Foundation for their continued support as we do not have any income coming into the club at this point in time but do have ongoing bills to be paid." 

Pictured: The fund hopes to help struggling clubs after the pandemic.

The grants awarded to clubs across the country and islands will help with essential maintenance works toward grass pitches, including 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. For artificial surfaces, eligible works include deep cleaning, overmarking and FA pitch testing.

The Football Foundation is a charity funded by the Premier League, The FA and the Government, through Sport England.