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College receives funding award to support disability football
£1,000 invested at RNC, improving disability provision for visually impaired players
The College has been awarded a grant of £1,000 from the Premier League, The FA and Government's Football Foundation, to return to full team training and start a female team.
Funded by The FA and Sport England (using National Lottery funding), this grant comes as part of the Return to Disability Football Fund, a fund launched recently to provide grants of up to £1,000 to support disabled people getting back to playing football following the pandemic.
Disabled people and individuals with long-term health conditions have been more adversely affected by Covid-19 than the wider population. This has directly impacted on disability football participation rates. The new Return to Disability Football Fund was launched to help tackle this challenge.
This grant will enable RNC, which supports blind and partially sighted players, to resume training together and to introduce a female team. This will provide much needed extra support for players of all abilities, giving an overall boost to the standard of grassroots football at RNC following the pandemic.
Dylan Malpas, RNC Sports Teacher and Football lead said:
'Our main aim at RNC is to get more blind and visually impaired students involved in sport and physical activity. Football is a brilliant way to do this, and engagement levels will significantly increase with the additional funding the Football Foundation has provided. The pandemic created significant challenges to keep students physically active. I would like to thank Robert and the Football Foundation for providing this grant to allow all of our students to improve their physical health, mental wellbeing and social connections through football.'
Football Foundation CEO, Robert Sullivan commented:
'Understandably, we've seen a significant drop off in the number of disabled teams and people playing football during the pandemic. As we emerge into a new phase of living with Covid-19, this is a critical moment for football and promoting physical activity across the nation.
'We now disabled people are keen to get playing again and it's really important we help everyone return confidently to playing football. It's one of the best sports for everyone to get involved in because it offers a range of benefits across physical health, mental wellbeing and social connections. Therefore, grants for clubs such as RNC to support blind and visually impaired players are more vital now than ever.
'We're delighted that our Partners, the Premier League, The FA, the Government and Sport England, along with the National Lottery, are investing in this fund to ensure football gets going again and grows within our communities.'
The Return to Disability Football Fund is the latest in a series of additional funding measures launched by The Premier League, The FA and Government's Football Foundation to help grassroots football deal with the impacts of Covid-19.
In March this year, the Foundation launched the
Return to Football Fund
that provided £2.1m to support clubs return to football or activities aimed at bringing new players to the game. Clubs were also helped with the costs towards the essential equipment and facilities they needed to start playing again through the
Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund
and
Small Grants Scheme
.
For more information about all the funding available to grassroots football clubs, visit the
Football Foundation
website.
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