Tigers Junior Football Club Secures £7,500 to Grow Women and Girls' Football

Tigers Junior Football Club, based at Bretons South Hornchurch, has received a £7,500 grant from the Football Foundation's Lionesses HERe to Play Fund to meet growing demand for women's and girls' football in the area.

The Football Foundation, a partnership between the Premier League, the FA and Government supporting grassroots football across England, confirmed the grant after being contacted by Dagenham and Rainham MP Margaret Mullane. Funded through the National Lottery via Sport England, the Lionesses HERe to Play Fund is designed to widen participation opportunities for women and girls specifically, covering costs including facility hire, kit and equipment, league and affiliation fees, referees, insurance, and coach and volunteer training.

Tigers JFC plans to use the funding to launch five brand new teams for women and girls, giving considerably more people across the area the chance to get involved in the sport.

Mullane welcomed the news, telling the Havering Daily it would help the club build on its existing progress. "This is really great news, it will help Tigers JFC go from strength to strength in building participation from local girls and women in football at grassroots level," she said. "Involvement in sport is so positive for health and wellbeing and we can see from the incredible progress that women's football has made in England, that it is opening up real opportunities for girls. I wish all the Tigers JFC girls, women's and boys teams every success in the future and hope that this grant funding will help them achieve that."

There are a number of funding schemes targeted specifically at underrepresented groups - whether women's football, disability sport, or other historically under-served communities - but they often go missed by the teams that really need them, which only serves to harm grassroots sport as a whole. More teams playing sport means more volunteers, coaches and use of facilities, all of which tend to strengthen a club's overall capacity.

To find out more about the Lionesses HERe to Play Fund, or to submit a funding application, clubs can visit the Football Foundation's website.