The Cymru Football Foundation has joined forces with the Grounds Management Association (GMA) to launch the Pitch Advisory Service Wales – a programme to improve the quality of grass football pitches across the country.
The partnership, supported by funding from the Football Association of Wales (FAW), will see the programme be the first if its kind in Wales – with GMA Regional Pitch Advisors supporting grounds people and volunteers with advice and recommendations to improve their pitches with the aim of delivering better playing surfaces and reducing the number of postponed matches.
Building on a decade of success in England, where the Pitch Advisory Service has transformed grassroots sports, the GMA is set to bring its expertise to Welsh football clubs. Since 2014, the service has supported over 12,500 clubs, helping improve almost 50,000 playing surfaces across football, cricket, rugby league and rugby union.
Currently in Wales, only 21% of grass pitches are rated at a “good” standard against the GMA’s Grounds Management Framework and the Cymru Football Foundation is on a mission to drastically improve that rating.
The programme will work together with the CFF’s Equipment Fund that re-opens on Monday 18th November – a grant scheme that supports grassroots football clubs with maintaining grass pitches and will now be strengthened with advice and guidance from the GMA’s Regional Pitch Advisors.
Improved grass pitches across Wales means more people will get access to play the nation’s most in-demand team sport, supporting physical and mental wellbeing, as well as supporting local communities and economies. Pitch maintenance is vital to meet this demand as currently 1 in 5 matches are postponed or cancelled each season in Wales due to increasingly wet weather and localised flooding.
The partnership will also be supporting the CFF’s three key priorities of improving experiences and environments in the game, build stronger and sustainable community focussed clubs and double the number of women and girls participating in football across Wales.
Craig Bellamy, Head Coach of the Cymru Men’s National Team said:
“The Pitch Advisory Service Wales will make a huge positive difference to football clubs across Wales – it’s a great tool to tackle an ongoing issue across the country and hopefully we’ll start to see the quality of grass pitches improving and less games being called off as a result.”
Aled Lewis, Director at the Cymru Football Foundation said:
“We are thrilled to be launching our partnership with the Grounds Management Association to support the improvement of grass pitches across the country. We recognise the current and future challenges in delivering quality grass pitch surfaces and we are confident this partnership will provide valuable support to our football family in addressing these challenges.”
Jason Booth, COO at the Grounds Management Association said:
“Over the past ten years, the GMA’s Pitch Advisory Service has demonstrated just how critical quality pitch maintenance is to the success of grassroots sports. We’ve helped countless clubs across England to reduce match postponements and enhance the overall playing experience.
“By expanding into Wales, we’re excited to bring these same benefits to Welsh clubs and communities. Grassroots sport is the heartbeat of many communities, and we’re eager to support even more grounds team and volunteers in creating the best possible playing surfaces for everyone, therefore increasing participation in sport across the nation.”
Clubs can request a Pitch Advisory Service Wales site visit by clicking here.
*Please note that clubs/organisations requesting a visit as part of the Cymru Football Foundation’s Equipment Fund are likely to take priority at this stage – any other requests will be accommodated in due course.
