Today should have been the start of pitch preparations for Easington Sports' annual football tournament event that this year was all set for a record 140 teams. The final pitch cuts would have occurred yesterday and the measuring and marking of pitches would have been scheduled to start today ready for the weekend. The Coronavirus pandemic has meant that the tournament and club presentation day have been cancelled and so attention shifts to pitch care for the start of grassroots football season hopefully in September.

Storms Dennis and Ciara wreaked havoc across the country and did severe damage to the facilities of many football clubs in England back in February. Easington Sports adult pitch was so badly affected due to the heavy rain across the winter that only 2 matches were played between January and March.

Sports have therefore been offered much needed salvation at a time when club finances will need to be carefully managed. We are therefore delighted to announce that we have been awarded a grant from the new Flood Relief Fund that has been set up by the Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation.

The Football Foundation is the UK’s largest sports charity and exists to improve the experience of playing football for everyone, by championing fair access to quality facilities.

This grant gave Easington, of the Hellenic Premier Division the opportunity to top soil and re-seed flood affected areas that had sunk due to the length of time water had sat in places on the pitch. Over-seeding and top soiling took place at the end of April and the first payment was made last week by the Football Foundation in order to pay for these improvements.

Easington Sports worked with the Football Foundation and the Oxfordshire FA to secure a £3000 grant towards the project.

The investment means that when the adult section do get back to playing following the Coronavirus pandemic, the pitch should have recovered and should be back to full thickness of grass ready for the season ahead.... weather permitting. As you can see in the picture, the grass seed is slowly getting established although we now desperately need rain!

Club Chairman Richard Meadows, said: “Football makes a huge difference to the players, coaches and community here and these storms really posed a threat to our ability to enjoy football during the winter months. It is fantastic that the Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation were able to act so quickly in supporting us so that we can ensure that we can get people back to playing football as quickly as possible on a decent surface. We lost so many matches and the revenue from these games that the club would have struggled to pay for this essential work and so we are are very grateful for the grant.

Robert Sullivan, Interim Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, said: “Grassroots football clubs across the country have faced challenging period in recent months. As well the pandemic, many of their facilities have suffered significant damage caused by the storms and floods.

“The Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation is committing to supporting the grassroots game, which is why we have set up the Emergency Flood Relief Fund.