On 20th April Kirby Muxloe FC announced they were successful in receiving funding to replace the main grass pitch into a state of the art 3G pitch.
With the spade hitting the ground last week, Kirby Muxloe FC Chairman Mike Little explains to SportingYOU on how the process works and how the club were successful in its funding application.
How did the idea of applying for a state of the art 3G pitch come around?
We initially were looking to replace our all weather 5-a-side enclosed pitch with an extended 9-a-side 3G, but we couldn’t get it to fit in the restricted area. We were in discussions our local County FA (Leicestershire) over this and they suggested that we were in an area of high demand for a 3G stadia, due to our Junior and Senior sections playing and training at 5 separate locations and the loss of games per year due to weather. The committee agreed to apply to replace the seniors grass pitch with a 3G stadia.
What were the club’s first steps in finding out whether this was possible?
The first thing to do is contact your local County FA for a meeting to discuss it, they will be able to help and guide you initially. We held a lot of meetings with our local County FA prior to contacting The Football Foundation, this was to ensure we were organised and ready with all the relevant information for when we submitted the initial ‘Expression of Interest’ application.
Was the funding through just one organisation, or did the club seek other funding applications?
The funding is mainly through The Football Foundation grant, but we as club also made a large contribution via the Sports Club and the Football Club itself. We had to prove to The Football Foundation that we had applied for as many different grants as possible.
Who was involved in the process?
The Sports Club Committee completed the initial Business Plan with help from the local County FA. We also employed a company to complete and produce all the layouts, TOPO surveys and a feasibility study that we then sent to The Football Foundation as part of our Initial ‘Expression of Interest’ application. As the grant process progressed to a full application phase, a Project Management company was also introduced by The Football Foundation who would manage the project when it started.
We can imagine this was a lengthly end-to-end process. Were they any complications, or potential complications?
The whole process took around two(2) years, but from actual engagement with The Football Foundation to the final decision was around twelve(12) months. The biggest issues we encountered were obtaining planning permission, collating all the information and data for the application pack, it is all done online so that helps make it a simpler process. The County FA and The Football Foundation were a huge help during the whole process, with help & advise and putting the application together. In all honesty, with the support provided the whole process was not complicated, but very time consuming to complete.
Once installed, what will this do for the club? How will the club utilise the facility?
The facility will help bring the club together much more, with a ‘home venue’ it’ll be utilised by many more teams for training and games. We will be able to grow the club in terms of our women’s & girl’s teams, inclusive football, youth and junior football. Lastly and more importantly, we will be able to keep players more active and enjoying football all year round with minimal weather disruption.
We hope this insight might provide other clubs with the inspiration to look into or apply for funding. Would you welcome other clubs to make contact for advice?
We’re more than happy to speak to other clubs if there looking to make an application like ours. We have saved all our documentation and information throughout this process and are are happy to share and discuss the non-sensitive information.
Contact Mike Little, Club Chairman, click here
Website: kirbymuxloefootballclub.co.uk