A walking football group had a big surprise last week when former England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey turned up to their weekly sessions and got involved.
Heskey, who scored 110 Premier League goals during his career, attended the group as part of a celebration of the new £6 million EFL & Sky Bet Building Foundations Fund launch.
From the current 2023/24 season, Sky Bet will invest £1 million per year into the Fund to increase and enhance the work that EFL clubs have been completing in their community.
A panel of industry experts, including Sky Bet ambassador Jeff Stelling, will judge proposals from EFL Club Trusts to facilitate projects across a range of categories, such as promoting physical and social benefits of the game and improving local sporting facilities.
The Walking Football club in Barnsley is just one of the many communities that will receive funding as part of the Building Foundations Fund. The group meets once a week and they come together to share their love of football as well as build friendships.
Greg Rayner, who is a regular attendee of Barnsley’s Walking Football group said: “I’ve got 15 new friends that I didn’t have before due to walking football, we’re mostly Barnsley fans so it’s good to see each other out of football.”
Another example of where the funding will be going is ‘Remember the Rovers’ at Blackburn Rovers. Martin Winters, Head of Operations at Blackburn Rovers couldn’t stress enough the importance of community groups like the one in Lancashire.
“It’s about bringing the community together and engaging through football memories to help tackle dementia and social isolation,” he said.
Dan Colton, Managing Director, Sky Bet added: “These communities often have great ideas of how they want to spend this money but just haven’t had the opportunity to do so.”
The funding will allow clubs to continue the incredible work that they do in the community by providing the resources needed to do so.
You can read more about the EFL & Sky Bet Building Foundations Fund here.
Thomas Thorn