£500k Boost For Grassroots Football

Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew, Budweiser and The FA have announced the winners of a £50,000 grant for eight non-league teams as part of the Budweiser Club Futures programme.

Budweiser Club Futures will help clubs improve various parts of their general facilities such as clubhouses and catering.  The aim of the programme is to shine a light on grassroots football and help clubs to help themselves, making each team more sustainable within the community. Launched in August, the Budweiser Club Futures programme will invest £1million directly into grassroots football in the UK over the next two seasons as part of Budweiser’s FA Cup sponsorship.

All of the eight winning clubs are now in with a chance of winning one additional £100,000 grant to top up their funds to a mighty £150,000 following a vote by football fans on Facebook.  The voting opens on Monday 28th January 2013 on the Budweiser UK and The FA Cup Facebook pages.

Budweiser Club Futures ambassador, Alan Pardew, said: ‘This is a significant amount of money for these clubs.  We received some terrific applications and it was a hard process to whittle it down to the eight winners.  Having started my career at grassroots level, I know just how hard it is to sustain a local club and can’t emphasise enough the importance of a programme like Budweiser Club Futures.’

Budweiser European marketing director, Iain Newell, said: ‘Non-league clubs are really important to the future of the beautiful game and to local communities.  It’s great to be able to give these eight clubs the financial boost they deserve following their successful applications and we look forward to seeing how their plans to use their funding will improve their clubs.’

The winning teams are: AFC Blackpool – North West, Blyth Town FC – North East & Yorkshire, Evergreen FC – East, Raynes Park Vale – London, Bardon Hill FC – East Midlands, Pegasus Juniors FC – West Midlands, South Park FC – South East and Camelford FC – South West.