While football bosses have announced a record £5.14billion
deal to televise live Premier League matches, funding to the grassroots game is
actually being cut. The Premier League originally promised to give five per
cent of its broadcasting income to grassroots projects. This has now fallen to
below one per cent, with the league, the Government and the FA each cutting its
contributions through the Football Foundation from £20million a year to
£12million.
Worse, amateur teams face a massive rise in fees charged by
councils for the use of pitches – in some cases up from £150 to £600 a season. In
most cases, the management of publicly owned pitches is controlled by town
halls, which have had to slash leisure budgets in the face of Government
austerity measures.
Stephen O’Reilly, secretary of Liverpool junior summer
league, believes the big clubs should do more. He said: “Bill Shankley used to
come out of Anfield and watch the kids playing football here. Those days are
gone. The Premier League should be looking after these leagues, where your Gerrards
and Rooneys all started.” Stephen added: “All our equipment is kept in the
storage container. There are dogs running across the pitches. There are no toilet
facilities, no hot water. Football is a religion here. But now it’s all about
money, money, money.”
England has just 639 of the latest full size 3G public
pitches, each costing £550,000, while Germany has 3,735.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/grassroots-football-dying-poverty-premier-5165016
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