Bottesford Town FC have officially opened their brand new facility at the Barrett Steel Stadium in Bottesford, just outside of Scunthorpe.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Chair of Lincolnshire FA, Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, and Lincolnshire FA CEO, Nick Hanson. Head of Football Development at Lincolnshire FA, Steph Powell, was also in attendance.

Bottesford Town, an England Football Accredited Club, was awarded a grant from the Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation, to upgrade their facilities. The club worked with the Football Foundation and the Lincolnshire FA, North Lincolnshire Council and SSE Sustainable Development Fund to secure a £1.5 million grant towards the project.

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. 

The new pitch will allow Bottesford Town Football Club, whose 1st team plays at Step 5 in the Northern Counties East Football League together with typically 25 in-house teams of varying ages from 6 years old up to adult football for both boys and girls inclusive of disability teams, the chance to play football each week as a result of improved facilities.

Players from the Football Club, in addition to other local Community groups, will be able to enjoy better quality pitches with the introduction of a new floodlit 3G artificial playing surface in addition to newly developed grass pitches which will accommodate all the various permutations ranging from mini-soccer 5v5 up to adult 11v11 size football. The development also includes new Stadia equipment with covered seating areas and improved disability facilities. 

Anthony Reeve, Chairman of Bottesford Town Football Club, said: "The grass playing surfaces were subject to water-logged pitches and infestation from 'chafer' grubs resulting in matches being cancelled/postponed and the need to hire other 3G for training facilities. Another objective was to get all 25 Bottesford Town teams to play their football at a single site (Birch Park) rather than be spread over 3 different sites. 

This project comes to fruition after many years of hard work from members of the Club and provides a platform for the Club to move forward. I would particularly wish to make mention of both those members of the North Lincolnshire Council and the Bottesford Town Council who have been supportive of our Community Football Club. It goes without saying that without the project guidance from Caroline (Castle Consultancy) and the financial support from the Football Foundation that our ambition would not have come to fruition. Lincolnshire Football Association have supported with the development of the project from the beginning by arranging meetings with the Football Foundation, and adding support throughout the grant application process - of which we're incredibly grateful."

Robert Sullivan, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, said: “The new 3G facility and enhanced grass playing pitches is great for the local community.

“It will support people’s ability to play our national game locally and therefore help unlock football’s many benefits to physical and mental wellbeing.  That’s why we’re committed to transforming the face of grassroots football facilities in this country. 

“The Football Foundation is working closely with our partners – the Premier League, The FA, government and Sport England – support facility development projects like this across the country over the next decade to transform our grassroots game and unlock the power of pitches.”

Steph Powell, Head of Football Development and Facilities & Investment Lead at Lincolnshire FA, said: “Bottesford was a key area for us to support facility development due to the continued growth of the game and appetite locally for more female and inclusion football groups in particular. The site will certainly allow us to fulfil the strategic need for growth at the club and will be central to creating a community feel in the town. We are proud to work alongside the Football Foundation to encourage growth County wide but most importantly alongside proactive and exciting Football Clubs with a network of committed volunteers like at Bottesford Town. We have lots of development in the pipeline in all corners of our County over the coming seasons so watch this space!”

Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, Chair of Lincolnshire FA, said: "Projects like this are so important to the lifeblood of football in the long term. Great facilities suck people in! People want to play the game, referee the game, coach the game - it all comes together but it does depend on really good infrastructure. If we could get to a place where people find that they can play football and it isn't access to facilities that is stopping them, then that would be a really good place to be."

To find out more about investment opportunities in your local area, or for more information on facilities development in Lincolnshire, contact Steph.Powell@lincolnshirefa.com or visit our Facilities page.

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