Recently an e-petition was launched which called for the Government to force the Premier League to put more money towards Grassroot Football which would help clubs such as Hereford United.
As over 10,000 had signed the petition the Government has released the following statement.
The Government works closely with the football authorities to ensure
that the grassroots benefits from a proportion of the broadcast rights
revenue generated by the Premier League and any commercial surplus made
by the FA.
The Premier League makes a significant voluntary contribution to
grassroots football that has continued to grow since the League’s
inception. Over the next three seasons the League will redistribute
over £850 million pounds to help strengthen football below the top tier.
This includes solidarity payments to support the 72 clubs in the
Football League and the 68 clubs in the three divisions of the Football
Conference. Part of this funding is ring-fenced to support these clubs’
work in the community.
£168 million will be spent by the Premier League solely on grassroots
football and community sport projects over the next three years. The
Premier League has recently formed a strong partnership with Sport
England to increase its work in this area. This includes the expansion
of the Premier League 4 Sport programme that encourages more young
people to take up sport and is helping deliver a tangible sporting
legacy from London 2012. The £168 million is on top of direct investment
from clubs themselves on community sport projects.
The recently launched Premier League and the FA Facilities fund will
build and upgrade community football facilities in some of the most
deprived areas of the country over the next three years. This will build
on the success of the Football Foundation - funded by the Premier
League, the FA and Government - that has delivered £780 million worth of
investment in grassroots facilities in the last ten years. On top of
the Premier League investment, the FA returns any surplus from
commercial rights into the game and invested £43 million into grassroots
football in 2012.
This e-petition remains open to signatures and will be considered for
debate by the Backbench Business Committee should it pass the 100 000
signature threshold.
To sign the petition: https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/46134/signature/new