THE Culture Secretary praised The Sun’s Footie For All campaign as she joined England’s Lionesses on the pitch to announce a multi-million cash boost for grassroots football.
Lucy Frazer unveiled a £30 million venture to construct around 30 state-of-the-art 3G pitches across the country.
We joined the Cabinet Minister at St George’s Park where she made the revelation to the Lionesses and told us how important it is to build more facilities, especially for women and girls.
Speaking to our political correspondent, Ms Frazer said she realised she had to do something to support the Lionesses’ legacy after seeing them “in action” at the World Cup.
“I came back from Australia, thinking we have got to build on this, we can’t stop, we have got to go further, we have got to continue to support them”, she said.
At every one of these new sites, there will be reserved peak-time slots, women and girls only evenings and priority booking for women and girls’ team.
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There will also be dedicated female changing rooms, shower facilities and accessible toilets.
Ms Frazer said: “One of the main issues is that girls are put off by the fact that there’s nowhere to change and there’s nowhere to shower.”
The Cabinet Minister also described the Sun’s Footie For All campaign and Fund as “complimentary” to the Government’s cash injection.
Our campaign is aimed at supporting grassroots youth football clubs impacted by the cost-of-living crisis and the fund, in collaboration with Tesco’s Stronger Starts programme, provides £150,000 in grants to assist clubs facing financial challenges.
Ms Frazer said: “In life, generally, you can’t do things alone, the Government can’t do this alone. And we are combining with the sporting bodies to achieve our aims, with the Department of Education, the Department for health… and so The Sun’s campaign is is a complementary to that.
“And it’s really important that we have football access for everyone and I’m a proud supporter of the Sun’s campaign.”
In terms of where the new pitches will be located, Ms Frazer said it will be up to the Football Foundation to decide, adding: “They are already looking at potential sites and looking at a whole range of things and accessibility is absolutely one of them.
“They have already started that work, because we want to make sure that these are delivered by 2024-25. And so that work has started already.”
The Government is providing £25 million funding, with The Football Association contributing £5 million.
The announcement comes ahead of the team’s crucial UEFA Women’s Nations League match against the Netherlands at Wembley Stadium on Friday.
England’s FIFA World Cup 2023 Captain Millie Bright said: “We are really pleased to see the commitment towards this funding and the promise that this will be prioritised for the growth of women’s and girls’ football so whatever the motivation to play, there is a safe and accessible area for females to go to.”
