Following on from the outstanding success at the recent Paralympics in Rio, the community team are delighted to announce that we have been successful in securing funding to run a disability football scheme in Coventry and Warwickshire for the next three years.
The community team have been awarded a grant of £54,200 over three years to deliver their own ‘Football Inc. project. The project is funded by the Wembley National Stadium Trust and administered by the English Football League Trust – working together in an innovative partnership between the charitable side of the country’s most iconic sporting venue and the organisation responsible for overseeing the charitable work at Football League Clubs up and down the country.
The Wembley National Stadium Trust have awarded 23 grants in total, with a combined value of £1,070,450 over three years, supporting the provision of disability football in association with professional football clubs.
Each club will be running its own unique programme of activity according to local need. The Sky Blues project will deliver a variety of sessions within schools, festivals, sessions in partnership with local community groups, impairment-specific sessions and creating opportunities for children and adults to represent Coventry City in newly-formed teams.
The overriding aim of the Football Inc. project is to get more disabled people playing football by breaking down the barriers that prevent them from doing so. Since the London 2012 Paralympics, there has been a major increase in the number of people with a disability playing sport, or wanting to do so.
Stewart Goshawk, Chief Executive of the Wembley National Stadium Trust said “Wembley Stadium is such an iconic national venue and it is great to be able to partner up with clubs across England on our ‘Every Player Counts’ programme, opening up new opportunities for disabled people who want to play football.
“We’re delighted that the Sky Blues in the Community will be one of the 25 clubs benefitting from this new funding. The Sky Blues already have an excellent track record working with disabled people and their new programme will increase provision for people with a sensory impairment or mental ill health and will start up new open disability sessions around Coventry and Warwickshire. It’s just what’s needed and we know it will make a real difference.”