After 15 years of waiting, one football club in the North East finally have the chance to build their field of dreams.

Allendale Sports Club in Northumberland have been given a substantial grant to build some of the best footballing facilities in the North Pennines.

The £246,462 awarded by the Football Foundation, the UK’s largest charity, means the club can start work on a building a clubhouse and subsequently making the site suitable for other sports such as rugby, archery and hockey.

Construction is due to commence later this year. Plans for the club have been more than a decade in the making and finally they have the funds to turn 10 acres of craggy and rugged land into a sporting haven.

Forget changing in the back of your Vauxhall Nova and resting your foot on the gearstick to put your shinpad on – it’s time for seats.

With pegs on the wall too! Luxury. Allendale Sports Club was formed in 1995 and bought together two members of the football club, two members of the cricket club and a secretary.

The cricket club have since developed their own facilities in Allendale, but the football club was in need of a huge makeover.

Funded by the Premier League, FA Sport England and the Government, the Football Foundation has plunged £45million into rejuvenating the grass roots of the game in this country.

Since its launch in 2000, the foundation has funded many community projects and provided equipment such as kit and goalposts.
 
James Watson, a regeneration consultant involved in the project, is extremely pleased that the foundation has helped the hard-working Allendale club.

“All too often, rural communities get overlooked when it comes to funding. But why should you be denied access to high quality sporting facilities just because of where you happen to live?

“The Football Foundation has set a fantastic example to other funders, by putting its money where its mouth is. Sports equity is what this scheme is all about."

This news tops off a great few months for the club as they have received grants from twelve other organisations totalling £65,000, and as a result gives them more than £300,000 to develop the facilities around the stunning Northumberland countryside.

Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, Paul Thorogood, is delighted that Allendale Sports Club have received a grant.

"We warmly congratulate Allendale Sports Club and the Northumberland FA for their hard work and dedication in securing this award,” said Thorogood.

“I am delighted that Football Foundation investment is opening up access to sport in the rural Allen Valleys and would encourage other organisations in the region to apply to us.”

Founding member of the club and Allendale resident Stan Jackson described the news as “fantastic”. More than 15 years ago he started to draw up plans and locate a suitable area to bring football heaven to the residents, but after numerous stumbling blocks it looked like it would never happen.

“We've hit so many obstacles, it's seemed more like a hurdle race than a game of football! But we've always picked ourselves up and got on with the task in hand.”