9:30am Saturday 4th September 2010
By Thom Airs
THE future of junior football for hundreds of youngsters in Blackbird Leys, Oxford, could be in doubt after council grants dried up.
Oxford Blackbirds FC, which has about 300 children playing for its teams, has been told by Oxford City Council it will no longer get help to pay for the rent of pitches and changing facilities.
In previous years, the council’s south east area committee has topped up club funds at the end of each season to meet what it pays the authority for its pitches at Blackbird Leys Park, off Pegasus Road.
Club chairman Clive Buckett said: “The grant that helped subsidise us has dried up.
“At the moment the fundraising is going fairly well, but that can stop as soon as it’s started. At the end of the season just gone we were told there would be no more money available to help.
“We’ve got to look at getting grants elsewhere.”
The club has to pay between £2,000 and £3,000 a year.
Mr Buckett said the money from the council had “been a safety net for us”.
He added: “It could threaten the football club. If the city council gives us a bill and we haven’t got that money in the kitty then we’re in trouble.
“My worry is about the children. If we can’t afford it, what do these children do?
“We’re always told to promote healthy children, but we don’t get the backing.”
Council spokesman Louisa Dean said: “The area committee has in the past assisted the club with funding to pay for the hire of pitches and the changing rooms.
“We had been able to pay off their outstanding arrears which was approximately £2,000 from previous seasons so that the club could start debt-free and the club had agreed that they would then pay all future fees from April this year.
“We are disappointed that despite assistance from council officers, councillors and OCVA, they have not been able to secure future sustained funding from any other means.”
Under-10s coach Dave Simms said: “I think it will cause problems.
“We don’t get that much funding coming in from outside the club and local businesses aren’t too keen to support youth football clubs in the current situation.
“It’s going to affect the children from the community.”
Prices for booking individual council pitches have risen slightly this season, but the cost of a 10-game block booking has gone down.
Paul Lyon, fixtures secretary of the Oxford Mail Boys’ League, said: “For a youth club, it’s expensive.
“We’re seeing a lot more teams folding due to a lack of players.
“I don’t know whether it’s to do with the cost of playing football.”
tairs@oxfordmail.co.uk
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