ENDMOOR KGR Football Club are expanding thanks to a £1,500 Grow the Game grant awarded by the Football Foundation The grant will enable the Westmorland League club to create an additional senior men’s team - and also enable additional club coaches to be trained.

Tony Wilson, club secretary, said: “The funding will help Endmoor KGR to provide an opportunity for young players, aged 16 and above, to step up from playing at Youth level into Senior Football. Great support from the Football Foundation and a good initiative”

The Premier League and The FA fund the Grow the Game scheme with £1.9m, which is delivered by the Football Foundation, the nation’s largest sports charity.

The scheme is designed to increase participation in our national game by helping clubs to meet the essential costs of starting new teams.

The key strength of Grow the Game is that its participation increases are sustainable rather than transient. Its grants create a solid infrastructure of teams and newly-trained coaches in which new people can start playing the sport, rather than simply providing temporary activity sessions, which are then vulnerable to drops in participation once the programme ends.

This year sees a particular emphasis placed on increasing the number of teams and players from the Under-15 age bracket and above, to address the decline in participation that has traditionally occurred as young people leave school and college. The other key focus is on growing the numbers of girls’, women’s and disability teams.

A Football Foundation Ambassador and a keen footballer himself, Ben Shephard said: “This Grow the Game funding, provided by the Premier League and The FA, is excellent news for Endmoor KGR Football Club.

"They deserve real credit for working with the Football Foundation and the Westmorland County Football Association to help secure the grant.

“Grow the Game funding makes a tangible difference, it helps to increase participation in the sport. It allows clubs at the lowest levels of the game to pay for things associated with starting new teams, like making sure their volunteer coaches can get qualified with FA coaching badges.”