Date: 29th June 2017 at 4:00pm
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As Wolverhampton Wanderers’ all-time top goalscorer with 306 goals during a 13-year spell, Steve Bull MBE built a prolific reputation in front of goal.

Recently, he was back pleasing his Midlands fans, this time opening a state-of-the-art all-weather facility in Walsall.

Funded by the Premier League, The FA, and the Government, via Sport England, the new facility will enable more people to play purely for the love of the game.

This latest investment has created a new home for the 28 teams of Walsall Wood JFC, as well as a facility capable of hosting competitive matches for Walsall College, Rushall Olympic FC and several other grassroots teams throughout the Staffordshire Veterans League.

Steve Bull (Centre).

Links have also been forged with Walsall Council and Premier League club West Bromwich Albion through The Albion Foundation. This partnership will allow the club to deliver ‘Baggies Soccer Centre’ sessions at the facility every Saturday morning.

The legendary forward, whose goalscoring abilities lead to his selection for England at Italia 90, expressed his delight at these links, saying, “This is a brilliant new facility that will benefit the local area as a whole.

“Sites like this all-weather pitch help all members of the community to experience the benefits of sport, and I can see that this one will be getting a lot of use!

“I’m especially glad to hear about how the pitch is going to help local teams.”

As such, the new pitch is set to increase overall sports participation in the area by 126 per cent. This includes a projected 493 per cent increase in 14 to 25-year-old participation, alongside a 124 per cent increase in overall female sport participation, through Walsall Wood JFC’s attempts to expand their female section of the club.

“I know how important grassroots football is and the money from the Premier League, The FA and the Government, delivered by the Football Foundation, is vital to the sport,” Bull added.

The new facility was funded by a grant of £250,000 from the Premier League & The FA Facilities Fund, delivered by the Football Foundation.

Since it was launched in 2000, the Foundation has awarded around 15,000 grants worth more than £580 million towards improving grassroots sport, which it has used to attract additional partnership funding of over £800 million to £1.4 billion of investment into the grassroots game.

Everyone at the Foundation would like to thank Steve Bull for giving his time to support the grassroots game.

Words by Adam Charman

 
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