Sported Emergency Fund
Sported partnered with Barclays to release an emergency fund for select members delivering football activities to your people, particularly those working with girls.
Groups were offered the opportunity to apply for a £1,500 grant to support activities and engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Project impact
The 24 Sported members who received the grants were based near one of the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 hub venues in London, North West England, South East England and Yorkshire & Humber.
The large majority were non-traditional youth and community groups working with very vulnerable young people, already delivering football activities and working with girls.
The emergency fund for local groups complements Barclays strategy, working with the FA to make football more accessible to girls at a grassroots level and inspiring the next generation through their title sponsorship of the Barclays FA Women's Super League.
The grant aimed to achieve three outcomes:
To support vulnerable community organisations, allowing them to continue to operate during the lockdown period
To enable these organisations to continue to engage with young people to keep them active and support their mental wellbeing
To allow groups to build back better once they can run activities again, to engage with more young people, particularly girls.
In addition to the funding, Sported provided support to the groups to help them to engage with young people during the lockdown period and beyond. This included:
1. Use of technology for virtual engagement. Hosting webinars and networking opportunities to share tips and techniques on engaging young people in virtual activities.
2. Professionally designed digital content and marketing materials to enable groups to attract young people (particularly girls)
3. Specific women and girls online training modules to learn about the best way to recruit, engage and retrain girls.
GROUP IMPACT
The support from the funding saw groups using the additional support to increase coaching capacity, purchase new equipment which would bolster their chances of survival. In addition, for one group, the funding supported the development of a new partnership with a local school, and others noted the grant would make a difference to the long term sustainability of the group.
Participant impact
The grants also impacted the participants, noting that it helped to ensure that participants were able to return after the lockdown. For one group, the funding had helped support them to increase girls' knowledge and awareness of health issues, and for many groups, participants used their sessions to increase their confidence.
“This grant was both timely due to COVID-19 needs and literally a godsend to help us keep going and investing in new, much needed training equipment and to help all coaches, players and volunteers keep as 'COVID-19' safe as posible through these worrying times. A huge thanks for Sported and to Barclays as sponsor for making such a huge difference to our organisation”
– CrossPool FC
“The biggest success is the response from the girls taking part. They have really enjoyed the sessions.. it’s been great to give the opportunity of learning new skills, not just football related, but just seeing how they have grown in confidence and communication has been a real positive of these sessions.”
– The Great Millers Youth Forum
Key Statistics and achievements
0
grants distributed to Sported member groups to support their football activities for young people.
0
%
of groups believe activities will continue beyond funding
0
%
of groups plan to support continued delivery of activities during and beyond the pandemic
Organisations increased participation by
100
members
“She [participant] feels that by coming to this club she has gained confidence and made lots of new griends. She says the coaches and girls are welcoming and non-judgemental and it has given her the opportunity to meet and make friend with girls from other schools and enjoy the sport"
– Community on Solid Ground