Local authority officials and local footballers in Dacorum are celebrating the award of a grant towards the replacement of old and unsafe goalposts on their football pitches.
The grant of £1,595 matched the council’s contribution to the project and highlighted their commitment to providing high quality and safe goalposts on their pitches.
Claire Covington, Parks and open spaces manager for Dacorum district council said,
“Dacorum Borough Council goal posts have been in service for many years and many are showing their age, with rust being a common problem. We hope that this funding will be the start of a continuing goalpost replacement programme through the ongoing support of the Football Foundation goalpost safety scheme. Feedback from local football clubs has been positive and we look forward to the new posts being installed.
The scheme was introduced to replace the estimated 15,000 sets of unsafe goalposts that were being used in grassroots football. Tragically during the past decade nine children have been killed by falling or unsafe goalposts. The Football Foundation in conjunction with the FA and local county FA’s are working hard to ensure that dangerous unsafe goalposts are replaced.
Karl Lingham, Hertfordshire FA’s County Development manager highlighted the success of the scheme in the county “The total amount of money invested into replacing unsafe goalposts across Hertfordshire has now reached over £100,000 with just over half of the funding coming from the Football Foundation and the rest coming from club funds, schools or local authority funding.”
For further information on the Goalpost safety scheme visit the FA website and the Football Foundation website or contact Karl Lingham.
Email: karl.lingham@hertfordshirefa.com