A North East grassroots football league has been able to pass on the savings to parents after being awarded a host of new footballs for matches.
The Grassroots Fund – Powered by Utilita Football Rebooted has supplied 40 match balls to the Northumberland Football League for their central venues, which host 200 matches every weekend, meaning a league that has helped produce the likes of England legends Peter Beardsley, Chris Waddle, and Alan Shearer has one less issue to worry about.
Like competitions across the country, the Northumberland Football League has always strived to keep costs down but, with 16,500 players involved every weekend, one of their biggest outgoings is making sure there is enough equipment available.
With the Grassroots Fund – Powered by Utilita Football Rebooted providing a football for each of the 40 pitches used over a weekend, league secretary Lee Scott says the help is invaluable.
He said: “With the economic times being challenging, one of our biggest expenses is match balls, our league have always provided match balls at our central venues which cater for 200 matches each weekend which is approximately 5000 matches per year.
“As a league we are keen to keep our league fees as low as we can so decided to apply for the Grassroots Fund – Powered by Utilita Football Rebooted.
“We were delighted to find out the grant application was successful and have taken delivery of over 40 match balls to cover our central venues.”
More recently the league has produced the likes of Shola and Sammy Ameobi, Adam Armstrong, Jamie Sterry, and Sean and Matty Longstaff – who all ply their trade in professional football, and Paul Kirton, founder of TeamGrassroots, says he was delighted to be able to help such a footballing hotbed.
He said: “It’s great to be able to support so many games per year, match balls can be a large expense for leagues and the North East, like so many parts of the country, is in the grip of a cost of living crisis.
“So to be able to support a league in this way, and in my local area is a great use of the fund and we hope to see many players benefit.”
James Heyes, head of partnerships at Utilita, says cases like the Northumberland Football League are the exact reason why the fund was established.
He said: “Being able to utilise the fund in this way - for one of the largest leagues in Europe - and help so many teams in times of economic pressure is exactly why we set up the fund.
“The North East is such a hotbed of talent at all ages, so it’s great to be able to help the future Alan Shearers and Jill Scotts.”
