The Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund (GPMF) was launched in 2023 and the ground breaking project is already helping Community Clubs across the country improve their facilities – including Cottingham Tigers A.R.L.F.C.
Based in North Hull, Cottingham currently delivers activity to 13 different age groups from under 5s to over 35s, seven nights a week, so their training and playing facilities are vital to the local community.
The current committee have been in place since 2020 and recognised from an early stage that their pitches needed some TLC and now with the help of the GPMF they can complete these works at no extra cost to themselves.
Cottingham Tigers Treasurer, Paul Atkinson, explains:
“We have three playing pitches and a training pitch and with the amount of activity we provide we knew that we needed to invest and improve to increase the enjoyment of the kids using the facility.”
The overuse of pitches is a common theme throughout Community Rugby League, but this funding gives clubs the opportunity to not only improve pitch quality, but also support their volunteer workforce to understand and protect their pitches for the long term.
Paul continued: “In 2022, we invested in new lamps for the floodlights and installed permanent pitch barriers on two of our pitches. We’ve also built new dugouts, invested in a digital scoreboard and have made some basic improvements to the playing surfaces.”
“This funding has been a lifeline for us – our new playing surfaces have improved the safety for all our players which in hand reduces their risk of injury and increases enjoyment. Further to this, we believe the work will help us increase the number of players we have at the club and should help us to increase our participation numbers and help grow the sport.”
Over the next three years, £5 million of Sport England National Lottery funding will be made available via the Governments Football Foundation to support the improvement of grass pitches in Rugby League’s Community Clubs.
This investment forms part of the Foundation’s multi-sport commitment, which will see the charity invest 40% of its investment into multi-sport projects that support both football and an additional sport, such as rugby, cricket, netball, and basketball, by 2025.
Any Community Club who wants to find out more should visit Grass Pitch Fund (rugby-league.com) where you can find eligibility criteria, templates and extra information.
