Celebrating 25 Years of the Football Foundation: Creating Great Spaces for Sports with Barclays in Anfield
By Sports Correspondent
Over the past 25 years the Premier League, The FA, and the Government’s Football Foundation has invested close to £1.3 billion in delivering the facilities, communities up and down the country need and deserve, but we haven’t done it alone.
2004 saw the launch of Barclays Spaces for Sports – a partnership between Barclays, the Football Foundation alongside Groundwork, an environmental regeneration charity.
The £30m programme coincided with Barclays first season as the title sponsor of the Premier League and marked their support for football from grassroots up through investment in every level of the game.
The first of 21 flagship sites supported by Barclays Spaces for Sports was Anfield Sport and Community Centre in Liverpool, with £298k of funding awarded towards the refurbishment of their sports hall, which has been followed by sustained funding over the intervening years towards a new 3G pitch, amongst other things, as the site has flourished.
“This programme in the city of Liverpool, with its distinguished football history, highlights the role that sport can play within communities. Not only can sport help support more active lifestyles but it can also act as an effective vehicle to combat crime, drug abuse, racism and anti-social behaviour.” Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, speaking at the launch of Barclays Spaces for Sport.
One of the key drivers to apply for funding and get involved with the scheme was “putting our community members and existing users front and centre of our work and ensuring we could offer a high-quality facility to meet local needs” says Karl Carney, Department Manager for Sport & Physical Activity at LFC Foundation who are based from the site.
“To be able to create a community hub, fit for purpose, that could provide access to life enhancing and changing opportunities for all ages is critical in underserved communities like Anfield.”
Now, in excess of 3,000 people use the 3G pitch each week and local team Lower Breck F.C. call it their home, cementing the facility as a hub of football in the local community.
But it’s not just football players that feel the benefit of this facility.
Badminton, table tennis, futsal, gymnastics, basketball, trampolining, karate, boxing and yoga are all offered at the site, providing a great place to play for many people in Anfield.
Having a space that provides access to opportunities for all ages has had a transformative impact on those who’ve participated at the Anfield Sport and Community Centre and Barclays Spaces for Sports. This is illustrated in how they are welcoming not only users from 0-90 years old, but also the children of young people who they worked with at the start of the programme, all the way back in 2004.
“THIS REINFORCES OUR PLACE AS A TRUSTED COMMUNITY HUB WERE PEOPLE FEEL SAFE AND SUPPORTED.
Over the past 25 years, partnerships like Barclays Spaces for Sports have shown the lasting difference that can be made when organisations come together with a shared goal. Anfield Sport and Community Centre continues to demonstrate that investment in quality, local facilities, creates opportunities that go far beyond sport – helping people to connect, be active and build stronger communities.
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