By @LaticsCommunity

Hindley Green Football Club are one of ten junior grassroots football clubs to benefit from small grants through the Wigan Athletic Supporters Project and Wigan Council.

  • Hindley Green Football Club are one of ten local junior grassroots football clubs to benefit from small grants from the Wigan Athletic Supporters Project.
  • Clubs given grants of £2,000 each thanks to the project and match funding of Wigan Council.
  • Ben Brookfield, coach and secretary: “We’re all volunteers here and we really appreciate the support and it’s great to see such a massive club and its supporters help us in this way.”

For Hindley Green Football Club, grassroots grants received from the Wigan Athletic Supporters Project and Wigan Council has provided the club with further opportunities to develop its players.

With teams ranging from U6s to open age, the club are one of ten local junior grassroots football clubs to be benefitting from the programme.

Thanks to the fundraising efforts of Latics supporters through the ‘Save Wigan Athletic Crowdfunder’, the project has seen Wigan Athletic Supporters Club and Wigan Athletic Community Trust come together to improve three key areas across the borough including grassroots football.

Ben Brookfield, U6’s coach and secretary at Hindley Green says the support has been hugely appreciated and will mean the club can invest in new equipment for its players.

“We really appreciate the grant from the Supporters Project and it’s a massive bonus for ourselves”, he said.

“It will enable us as a club and for its young players to bring in new equipment and training aids whether that’s footballs, slalom poles or cones.

“It’s a massive bonus for us and we’re chuffed to bits that the project selected us as one of the clubs to benefit.”

He added: “For me it's such a positive thing to see a team like Wigan Athletic and supporters choosing to support local grassroots clubs.

“We’re all volunteers here and we really appreciate the support and it’s great to see such a massive club help us in this way.”

Wigan Athletic Supporters Project

Grants from the Supporters Project and Wigan Council are benefitting grassroots clubs across the borough

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Clubs selected have been given grants of £2,000 each, thanks to the project and the match funding of Wigan Council, who are also supporting the initiative.

Councillor Jim Moodie, lead member for leisure and public health at Wigan Council, added:

“Being here [at Hindley Green FC] has been fantastic and the people that volunteer to run these clubs are the backbone of sport in the Wigan & Leigh area. Hopefully the money can assist clubs in whatever way they feel is best for them.

“The last couple of years has been very difficult for a whole range of different reasons so it’s great to get people back into sport and physical activity so we will always continue to support grassroots football.”

Alongside providing small grants to junior grassroots club, the Supporters Project is also helping to reduce social isolation in older people and raising the aspirations of young people through work experience opportunities.  

For more information on the Wigan Athletic Supporters Project, please email community@wiganathletic.com or call 01942 318090.