Welcome to the latest summary of the work we are doing to improve the facilities for football in Northamptonshire. 

A brief look back - 2021 summary

We saw 83 grants issued across all clubs and organisations in Northamptonshire in 2021, with a total grant value of £579,000. We also made significant inroads into improving the quality of grass pitches with 11 sites benefitting from the Football Foundation’s Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund – a six-year funding programme.

Looking forward to 2022

This year promises to be an incredibly exciting year for grassroots football facilities in Northamptonshire. The UK Government have committed a further £205m nationally towards grassroots football facilities, and we are working incredibly hard to ensure our clubs and leagues benefit from the investment.

We are delighted to share news that Weedon Sports Association have been offered a grant of over £140,000 from the Football Foundation towards a new purpose-built community building at their Jubilee Field. Work is expected to start in the first quarter of 2022.

Kettering Town have recently been awarded £98,000 from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund towards a new 250-seat stand at Latimer Park.

We continue to work closely with the Earls Barton Sports and Community Trust on the development of The Grange and hope to have further details in the coming months.

We are working closely with West Northamptonshire Council through our Football Facilities partnership on a range of priority projects, including improvements to 3G and grass pitches.

We are particularly excited about an innovative pilot scheme providing funding to improve the quality of the grass pitches at four heavily-used Council sites in Northampton - Kingsthorpe Recreation Ground, Parklands, St Crispin’s Park and Round Spinney.

We also have very productive quarterly meetings with colleagues from North Northamptonshire Council and we are currently working up a priority list of facility projects to address in 2022. 

Football Foundation investment into Northants since 2000

Date for your diary

If you are interested in hearing about what funding and support is available for improving your grass pitch, make sure you don't miss our webinar this month.

Monday 24th January, 7pm – 8pm on Microsoft Teams

Please contact stuart.smith@northantsfa.com to reserve a space.

Waterlogged Pitches

We have seen a lot of wet weather recently - resulting in a number of  cancelled matches and disappointed players, coaches and club officials.

Our partners at Premiership Lawncare have an innovative piece of equipment called the OxyShot that helps relieve compaction and improve drainage. We would recommend reading this article for full details.

We are committed to improving the facilities for grassroots football in the County, which is why we have formed an official partnership with Premiership Lawncare to enhance our support. Why not contact them and see how they can help you?

We are here to help, so do not hesitate to get in touch with our Leagues & Clubs Support Officer, Stuart Smith, to discuss your ideas or any issues you are having.

Tel: 07983 537025
Email: stuart.smith@northantsfa.com