Historic football club needs more space and funding

The chairwoman of Hadleigh United FC has said the club is facing several challenges

The chairwoman of a 132-year-old football club has spoken of the many challenges it faces in the modern world.

Hadleigh United FC based in Hadleigh, Suffolk, was established in 1892.

Chairwoman Tracy Croker said the club struggled in terms of funding as well as physical space that the FA said it was aware of.

It comes after football equipment retailer FORZA spoke to 186 individuals from English football clubs and found seven in 10 clubs felt they lacked sufficient funding.

Speaking of the research that also found 28% of clubs were using equipment beyond normal levels of wear and tear, Ms Croker said: "I think that's probably symptomatic of most grassroots clubs at the moment.

"We do have to squeeze out every single minute of use out of all of our equipment and to find the funding to replace that is hard work."

Ms Croker said while they were "lucky" at Hadleigh United with a "committed team of volunteers who go above and beyond", they had to "constantly" seek funds.

Tracy Croker urged developers to consider planning sports facilities in their plans for the future

Another key issue the club faces is a lack of space partly due to an increase in women and girls playing.

"We want to expand more but we can't at the minute because we simply don't have enough space to play," Ms Croker said.

She suggested that future developers and planners building new homes in the area consider providing extra facilities alongside their plans.

"It's important for everyone's mental and physical health - I think we all realised that after the pandemic," she added.

The club hopes to have two teams for women and girls next season

A spokesperson for the FA said it recognised the challenges faced by grassroots leagues and clubs across the country.

"Our focus and ambition across grassroots football in England is to transform grass pitch quality and deliver further 3G pitches to improve player experience and ensure that more games are played as originally scheduled," they added.

The research from FORZA found that 92% of clubs believed bad weather and adverse conditions were the biggest threat to match cancellations.