Tracey Crouch,

Sports minister
,

Tracey Crouch

I’m pleased we’ve come to an agreement with the Premier League, as part of our new sports strategy, which will see it at least double its investment in community football.

It’s only right that, with increased revenue coming into the game as a result of its domestic television deal, the Premier League increases its contribution to grassroots football. I’m delighted it will invest at least £100m a year, over three years.

The Premier League can make a significant contribution towards helping deliver the government’s new sports strategy – the focus of which is to get more people active and to use the power of sport as a force for social good, bringing people and communities together to volunteer and participate.

Premier League clubs are focal points for communities up and down the country and many already have excellent projects in place that get people playing the game and helping change lives for the better. The League’s commitment to at least doubling its investment in community sport and facilities will mean so much more can be achieved at grassroots level.

The government has a strong relationship with the Premier League, working with them, the Football Association and the Football Foundation to build state-of-the-art, 3G pitches to strengthen the game at the grassroots, encouraging participation.

The Premier League’s increased funding will make a real difference to the game at the grassroots and I look forward to continuing our work with them.

"It’s right that with increased revenue, the Premier League increases its contribution"

Richard Scudamore,

CEO,

English Premier League

Richard Scudamore

Premier League clubs have always stepped up to the plate when it comes to sharing their success. They appreciate that the development of the Premier League is contingent on keeping grounds full and vibrant, as well as a strong and healthy football pyramid when it comes to talent development.

Creating opportunities for young people to play football and get involved with other sports is incredibly important in developing a taste for sport and exercise and all the benefits that brings to life. It also forges stronger bonds between communities and the professional football clubs that are sustained by them.

Since 2000 the Premier League has invested in facilities, coaching projects and school tournaments, as well as 500+ artificial grass pitches in schools and local communities. Last season our clubs delivered PE and school sport lessons that benefitted 125,000 primary school children.

The success of the Premier League competition, allied to the profile of our clubs and their players, creates a great opportunity to grow the game at all levels. We want to use the excitement of our competition to make a positive impact on as many people as possible – especially young people – at a time in their lives when sporting choices are being made.

"Creating opportunities for young people to play football is incredibly important"

Paul Thorogood,

CEO,

Football Foundation

Paul Thorogood

The future looks bright for the grassroots game as 2016 heralds a significant step-change in funding.

Successive reports by different organisations over many years have consistently found that improving the desperate state of facilities is the most critical change that needs to be made for the grassroots game to flourish. So the fact our funding partner – the Premier League – is increasing the amount it will invest over the next three years is fantastic news.

This means there’s now one single capital investment plan for football, with the Football Foundation coordinating the different elements of infrastructure investment. This includes the Parklife hubs which are planned for inner-cities, as well as our core funding programme, the Premier League and the FA Facilities Fund.

Using our advanced delivery and monitoring systems, we’ll ensure value-for-money investments are made to achieve maximum long-term impact. Investment will be targeted into areas where it’s most needed and where it will achieve the best outcomes.

Over the past three years we’ve delivered 108 third-generation (3G) artificial pitches with floodlights, through funding provided by the Premier League, the FA and the government via Sport England. The additional funding will enable us to accelerate this programme considerably, giving more grassroots footballers access to the good quality, well maintained, all-weather facilities they need.

"This additional funding will help us accelerate our 3G pitch programme"

Liz Bishopp,

Business Manager,

The Blandford School

Liz Bishopp

The Premier League and the FA Facilities Fund have transformed things for us at the Blandford School, so it’s really great to hear the Premier League intends to increase investment in grassroots football.

We received £350,000 from the fund to build our 3G pitch, so we can guarantee local clubs training times throughout the year, no matter what the weather. What the pitch allows us to do in partnership with the community is astonishing.

One of the biggest winners is girls’ football. Dorset FA now holds its skills development sessions and county trials here, so the new pitch has been instrumental in increasing participation.

Aside from the important social responsibilities – helping more people get more active – investing in the future makes perfect commercial sense. If the Premier League wants to continue to be successful and attractive to watch, then it has to invest, and if it wants to make sure it has access to the very best footballing talent, then it has to grow its own.

The job of providing support for grassroots sport, however, is the responsibility of everyone in the industry. I can understand the argument that the Premier League is there primarily to provide for the business of football so understand it wanting to see funding of community facilities also being taken seriously by central and local government