The Grow the Game scheme is designed to increase participation in our national game by helping clubs with the costs associated with creating new teams, which will give opportunities to those who have limited options to join a team.

Funded by the Premier League and The FA, Grow the Game is delivered by the Football Foundation, the nation’s largest sports charity.

The fund will boost playing opportunities for three specific sections of society for whom the opportunities to play football have always been traditionally limited. These are:

• Women and Girls;
• Disabled Players;
• Male teams of Under-14s-and-upwards.
• Transition from Youth to Adult football e.g (U16-U18/U18-U21’s)

The Shropshire FA is working in partnership with the Mercian Regional Football League, Shrewsbury District Sunday League & The Shropshire Minor League to facilitate a NEW under 21's league in the county commencing the season 2016/2017.

Applications are only being accepted for teams within these target groups providing they meet the basic eligibility criteria.

Eligible projects

Grow the Game provides funding for projects that use football to:

• increase participation by both players and volunteers

 Applications are welcome from organisations that are 'not for profit' and planning to set up one or more new football teams over the next two years.

Organisations must have a signed constitution (with an appropriate dissolution clause), child protection policy, equal opportunities policy, bank statements and income/expenditure records (for all accounts held by the organisation).

Who can apply

We welcome applications from any not-for-profit organisations, including:

• Football Clubs*
• Youth Clubs with a football programme
• Community groups/centre/clubs
• Charitable Organisations
• Parish Councils
• Sports Associations
• Local Authorities
• Multi-sports clubs
• Companies limited by guarantee
• Industrial and provident societies
• Unincorporated not-for-profit organisations

  * Please note only Football Club Community Schemes linked to football clubs in the English Football League (Cardiff and Swansea) or clubs in the English League Pyramid System (Colwyn Bay, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport County, Newport IOW and Wrexham) are eligible for funding.

Who can't apply

• Individuals
• Profit making organisations
• Leagues
• Educational establishments (including universities)
• Organisations who have had a Grow the Game or Community Small Grant in the last two years
• Groups wishing to apply for charitable status (further support is available from the Charity Commission's website)
• Organisations seeking retrospective funding for costs that have already been made or are due before an offer of a grant has been awarded

Costs covered by the grant

Grow the Game provides funding to contribute towards a combination of the following essential costs associated with providing new football activity:

• Facility hire
• Hire of FA qualified coaches
• Referees fees
• CRB checks
• Affiliation fees
• League entry
• First aid kits
• Promotion and publicity
• FA coaching courses
• Additional courses
• Football kit

Grant limits

Organisations are able to receive a grant of £1,500 per new team created over two or three years with financial support being reduced in the second or third year of the project.

Clubs will be required to contribute some elements of cost towards to the new teams, however evidence of partnership funding will not be requested.

A total amount of £1.5m is available nationwide to all County FA's, please note not all applications may be successful.

Applying for funding

This area of the website is split into seven sections to provide support on every step of your project, from pre-application advice to maximising participation. Use the navigation on the right to move between sections.

We recommend reading through all of the sections before proceeding with your project.

A maximum grant of £1,500 is available for each new team that a club creates with the grant. The amount is aimed at covering the costs incurred for league entry, referees’ fees, first aid kits, FA coaching courses, football strips and more.

The application window for Grow the Game applications will open on Monday 1^st February 2016 and close on Thursday 10^th March 2016. For clubs seeking more information on Grow the Game should contact Darren Beech at County FA darren.beech@shropshirefa.com  or visit www.footballfoundation.org.uk/apply/grow-the-game/.

Grantees, like last year, will need to create an account on Grantshot if they have not already in order to complete their application and if a club / organisation received a grant in May 2015 they will not be eligible for funding this coming window in 2016.

The only notable differences in the scheme this year are the slightly later start time and that payments will only be released once the club’s affiliation number has been confirmed and the team exists.