LAPFORD AFC has been awarded a £1,500 Pitch Preparation Fund (PPF) grant from the Football Foundation.

The money will enable the mid-Devon club to prepare the Edgerly Park pitch ahead of a return to playing when it is safe to do so.

Club Secretary Niall McAreavey was delighted with the news.

“We are pleased to have secured this funding from the Football Foundation, which will help provide an improved surface for football, ready for the safe return of the grassroots game.”

Robert Sullivan, interim Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, said: “This is a vital grant to help Lapford AFC get their pitch match-fit.

“The Foundation is a combination of the Premier League, the FA and the Government and exists to help provide the quality infrastructure at the lower levels of the game.

“Pitch Preparation Fund grants like this one are giving a helping hand to clubs across the country to get their playing surfaces ready for when the game can begin again.”

The PPF was set up in support of the game which is currently facing unprecedented challenges due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

The Fund is providing grants to clubs that have lost out on normal revenue streams during this difficult period.

Lapford AFC can use their grant to help pay for the cost of materials, work on draining and general pitch maintenance - such as cutting and rolling the grass, as well as marking lines ahead of forthcoming home fixtures.

The news of the PPF grant adds to the growing list of celebrations Lapford has had to toast in recent years.

Nick Tucker and Nigel Hoskins’s men have been promoted as champions five times in the last seven seasons and celebrated their 100th anniversary last year with promotion to the MACRON Devon and Exeter Premier Division.

The Coronavirus outbreak sadly cut the season short with the Stags sitting promisingly in third with games in hand. They will hope the funding will give them the edge for when they begin the 2020/21 season to kick on and win the Premier Division for the first time in the club’s history.

The Football Foundation is the largest sports charity in the UK and celebrates its 20th anniversary next year. It champions fair access to quality football facilities for everyone, regardless of postcode, gender, race, disability or place.

Since 2000, it has awarded more than 17,300 grants to improve facilities worth more than £684m.

This includes 829 artificial pitches, more than 3,000 natural grass pitches and 1,100 changing facilities. This has attracted an additional £870m of partnership funding - totalling more than £1.5bn investment into the grassroots game in the UK. Lapford AFC is the latest to benefit from this scheme.

The Foundation has created the National Football Facilities Strategy and through money received from the Premier League, the FA and Sport England have made crucial funds available to local clubs across the country.

These, matched with other partnership fundings are awarded as grants to create outstanding footballing facilities, helping to transform communities.

Clubs and organisations are also being given access to the Football Foundation Groundskeeping Community.

This is a free online resource developed alongside the FA containing advice and guidance.

Anyone in Devon can sign up at https://thefa.hivelearning.com/groundskeeping .