Stockport County supporting local grassroots football with £50,000 funding

Grassroots football was halted by the Covid-19 pandemic but its return has been impacted by high levels of inflation

Stockport County have donated about £50,000 to help 25 local grassroots football clubs for the 2023-24 season.

The Hatters have started the scheme to provide clubs with £1,500 in funding.

The money will help with running costs, while the selected clubs will take part in a cup competition culminating in a final at County's Edgeley Park home.

"We felt grassroots football is the nucleus of our community," Stockport sporting director Simon Wilson told BBC Sport.

"It effects boys, girls and parents, and everyone can get something out of it.

"With the associations of healthy living of playing sport, as well as the mental health aspect, we felt it was a great capsule to get a lot done with a good sum of money, which we knew would really support the community."

County distributed the money in line with each club's individual needs, based on their number of players and eligibility.

The funding is aimed to help them prepare for the upcoming season and to help progress boys' and girls' football in the borough.

"I'm incredibly proud to be part of a club that feels this way about the community. I know that other clubs in the area do great work in their communities, and we hope it creates a good bit of challenge between the clubs and inspires everyone to try and do a little bit more if they can," Wilson added.

"All of these clubs we are supporting are community assets. It's important to remember that all of us are only here for a period of time to serve our community, but these clubs will be here a lot longer than any of us so we have to make sure we remember who we are serving."

Grassroots football's struggle in era of immense wealth

In 2023, a figure of £50,000 might not appear to be a huge amount of money for Stockport County to pledge towards the local community.

The total is overshadowed by the typical Premier League footballers' weekly salary but for the grassroots game, however, the figure can make a massive difference.

Richard Hubbard is treasurer at Cheadle and Gatley FC, one of the 25 clubs to benefit, and said: "We applied for the funding because, like most things in the UK, grassroots football has been hit with inflation. We have parents who are finding it tough financially and we're always looking for different roots of funding.

"For our club, football costs have gone up 25% in the last 18 months and we've had to try and pass those costs on to parents where we can, but we've also offered discount schemes for those who really need it.

"We've had to try and access as much funding and as many grants as we can, and we've turned the building on our site into a clubhouse to generate extra income. If we didn't do that, we'd be out of business."

Mike Pye, chairman of another selected club, Inter Cheadle JFC, added: "In this area, I know of a lot of teams within clubs are folding. When there's a club with only two or three teams, it's a lot more difficult to run because you still have the same affiliation costs and training costs as the bigger clubs, so it works out a lot more per person.

"With the cost of living crisis it means a lot of players have gone to join the bigger clubs because it's cheaper to play, so it's especially difficult running a smaller club at the moment.

"We've been trying to keep the costs down for parents as much as we can. Our subs are either paid in a lump sum or over eight or nine months. In the current crisis we're in, parents can come to us and pay it over 12 months instead. It's not a problem, we just want the kids playing football."

'It's so important to keep grassroots football alive'

Holly Deering (right) played two games for England in the Under-17 European Championships in Estonia

Holly Deering, an England Under-17 international, is part of the Manchester United academy but began playing football at the age of four for Cheadle and Gatley.

She credits her progression through to United to the role that grassroots football plays in the local community.

"My time at Cheadle and Gatley was really good, the club was so well organised. There weren't any girls' teams around during my time there, so I was playing with the boys, and they never went easy on me. They always made it difficult for me but I think that really helped make me the player I am today, especially the physical side of the game," she said.

"I signed for Manchester United at eight years old but I carried on training with Cheadle and Gatley until I was 10, which really helped me out as a player.

"I think it's so important to keep grassroots football alive, it's important to keep kids active and spending time with their friends and having fun, like I did."