LMA Business Club e-news issue 1 - January 2010

Football Foundation – Celebrating Grass Roots Football at Nike Town

On Wednesday 18th November 2009, the Football Foundation hosted an event at Nike Town in Regent Street, London to celebrate its involvement and success within grass roots football.

The event began with Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, Paul Thorogood, giving a little background to the work it does and the support it receives - as well as introducing the Foundation's new Chairman, Clive Sherling.

The Premier League, Football Association and government have provided nearly £400million between them since 2000, which the Football Foundation has managed to more than double, through leveraged partnership funding at both a local and national level. In addition to this, the Foundation's corporate partners such as Barclays, BT, Comic Relief and of course Nike, have provided a further £57million, which the Foundation has again more than doubled.

The Football Foundation has distributed in excess of £55million this year - with almost half of this having been invested in the top 20% of the most deprived communities in the country. The money has been used to channel the unique power of football and sport to help change the lives of those living in these areas.

Following the introduction, Mick Dennis, host for the evening and Chair of the Football Foundation's Community Assessment Panel then spoke with Ibrahim Kanu, a 16-year-old from Southwark who managed to turn his life around when he became involved with the Breaking Barriers project. Ibrahim is now successfully enrolled at Richmond College studying for a BTEC National Level qualification in Sport Development, Coaching and Fitness. Ibrahim is a shining example of the positive success that Football Foundation funding can have on someone's life.

LMA members Alan Curbishley and Aidy Boothroyd then took the stage for a Q&A session conducted by host, Mick Dennis. Both men feel very strongly about the importance of grass roots and community involvement in football and talked about how different it was when they were growing up, being able to stay out playing football in the streets until dark. They fully appreciate and support the work the Football Foundation puts in to help develop football at a grass roots level, particularly in providing facilities. As Curbishley asked:

"If kids are late developers and don't make it into a football academy, where do they go?"

Boothroyd is also a particularly strong advocate of grass roots football, especially as his nine-year old son is now a keen young player, so Boothroyd's experiencing first-hand the importance of community involvement and investment in the creation of England's future talent!

"Football is so important not just for the ones that go into professional football, but for the others who go onto better things in life, who help make society a better place."

For further information on the work the LMA does with the Football Foundation, please contact LMA Marketing Manager, Michelle Dorgan on 01926 831556 or michelle.dorgan@lmasecure.com