People living in South Leeds are set to benefit from fresh investment into local grassroots sports facilities thanks to a £600k grant from the Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation.
This investment will enable Hamara to build a new leisure and wellbeing facility and create a new 3G Multi sports pitch.
These improved facilities will represent a significant improvement on the existing Old Cockburn Sports Hall, which is dated and a local carbuncle.
The site will be used by partner clubs/organisations/local schools/users of the site.
This project has also been supported by an additional £2.6m from partner organisations including Leeds City Council, Social Investment Business and Power to Change to name a few.
The Football Foundation is the Premier League, The FA and Government’s charity that delivers outstanding grassroots facilities, more and better places to play, transforming lives and communities where it is needed most.
Quote from Cllr Mohammed Iqbal, Chair of Hamara: “We are proud of our Senior Management Team and Trustees vision to deliver a new centre that will enhance the experience for our increasing number of beneficiaries. We’re grateful too to all funders, colleagues and partners working to design, build, and provide, what will be a highly renowned centre in South Leeds.
Robert Sullivan, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, said: “The Football Foundation is working closely with our partners – the Premier League, The FA and Government – to transform the quality of grassroots facilities in England by delivering projects like this across the country.
“Good quality playing facilities have a transformative impact on physical and mental health and play an important role in bringing people together and strengthening local communities.
“This grant award to Hamara towards developing The Cockburn Centre is fantastic news for the local community and will help give more people access to a great place to play.”
The Football Foundation’s goal is to unlock the power of pitches ensuring everyone has a great place to play regardless of gender, race, disability or place.
Since its creation in 2000, the Foundation has invested more than £1 billion to improve grassroots facilities across the country – including 1,100 3G football turf pitches, 12,000 grass pitches and 1,400 changing rooms. This has attracted an additional £1.3 billion of partnership funding – totalling over £2 billion investment in grassroots football so far.
