FOOTBALLERS at Long Lane JFC in Greenwich are celebrating following a £5,000 Grow the Game grant awarded by the Football Foundation, the country’s largest sports charity.

The award will enable the club to create four new teams at U7 and U8 boys level, as well as U10 girls, with the grant assisting the club in providing top quality coaching for all these new players.

The new teams will boost the number of sides the club runs from last season’s 33 to 37 for the new campaign.

In addition to the new teams, the club will now be able to provide funding for extra team coaches and bring in FA qualified coaches, improving the quality of the coaching experience.

This rounds off a wonderful year for the club, who have recently seen the completion of their new grass pitch improvement project, which will provide good standard pitches.

Contracts have also been signed with LOCOG the organising committee of the 2012 Olympic Games for Long Lane to become an official Olympic training venue for footballers from eight different nations.

As a legacy, the Olympic committee will supply a full irrigation system to the club’s main pitches, helping to complete one of the last parts of the club’s development plans by turning round a once derelict and vandalised site.

Funded by the Premier League, the FA and the Government via Sport England, the Football Foundation is the nation’s largest sports charity.

Since it was launched in 2000, the Foundation has awarded around 8,000 grants worth more than £420m towards improving grassroots sport, which it has used to attract additional partnership funding of over £520m.

Long Lane JFC chief executive Mick Northwood said: “This is a wonderful opportunity to recruit more young players and more importantly provide them with the best possible coaching.

”We are very grateful for the wonderful support of the Football Foundation who have made this all possible.”

Football Foundation chief executive Paul Thorogood added: “We warmly congratulate Long Lane JFC and the London FA for their hard work and dedication in securing this award.”

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