Scottish FA Grassroots Pitch & Facilities Fund

The Scottish Football Association are conducting a funding opportunity for pitches in need of grassroot treatment in line with the UK Government, Football Clubs and Local Authorities. Here's what The Scottish FA had to say about it. 

In partnership with the UK Government, Scotland’s football clubs, local authorities, leisure trusts and key stakeholders, the Scottish FA will identify key football facilities across the National Association's 6 regions, where there is an evidence-basedneed for investment that will maintain and sustain facilities identified as critical in facilitating participation in the national game at local grassroots level. This will be done in a manner that promotes participation and sustainability, in all its various facets, over the longer term.To reflect this approach, and for this second phase of the Scottish FA Grassroots Pitch & Facilities Fund, the focus of our investment will fall across two key areas.

MAINTAIN - projects targeting the maintenance and enhancement of existing football pitch facilities, resulting in increased participation and a level of quality that not only meet match, training and recreational football, but which also ensures that the resultant facility is attractive to all participants, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or level of the game being played. 

SUSTAIN - projects with a sustainability theme, where the focus will fall on improvements to football facilities which promote environmental, financial and ultimately overall club sustainability.  Football has a responsibility to play its part in the wider sustainability agenda.  This phase of funding marks the start of our journey in that direction.

Our MAINTAIN theme will channel investment into 2 types of pitch project – synthetic and natural grass development. This will broaden impact beyond solely synthetic playing surfaces, at the same time providing a much-needed funding source for natural grass pitch venues that have suffered significantly as a result of decreasing levels of investment due to wider financial pressures. Our MAINTAIN theme will support;

3G Playing Surfaces – upgrade or replacement of existing pitches, at both training (60 x 40m minimum) and full size (90 x 56m Scottish FA minimum) level.
Natural Grass - upgrade/improvement of existing match pitches and/or training pitches/spaces
In parallel with this, our SUSTAIN theme will consider football facility projects with environmental, financial and ultimately club sustainability at their core, at the same time delivering real football participation and developmental impacts. Examples of projects that may fall within SUSTAIN include;

Floodlighting - existing system conversions to LED
Solar panel installation
As an area that is currently evolving, Phase 2 projects supported through the SUSTAIN stream will be limited to 3G floodlighting and solar panel installation.

All SUSTAIN projects must be delivered by a recognised electrical contractor holding the necessary industry accreditations, e.g. SELECT Scotland and/or the new Microgeneration Certification Scheme (or MCS) accreditation, together with evidencable experience of delivering projects of the type applied for.

For more information contact the Scottish FA