The lack of football pitches in Wales is restricting the sport’s growth, a leading administrator has claimed.
Neil Ward – chief executive of the FAW Trust – has argued that too few playing surfaces in Wales is a major factor holding back Welsh football from realising the full potential set in motion by success at Euro 2016.
Ward says the FAW Trust have a target of getting half the child population of Wales to play some kind of football at least once a week.
But that measure currently stands at 37 per cent and Ward, in an article for the Institute of Welsh Affairs, says: “Despite the pleasing progress, football faces a huge challenge and its forcing clubs to reduce the number of teams they run or, worse, fold altogether.
“The challenge is access to facilities. Unlike sports like cricket and rugby, where many clubs own their facilities, football is largely dependent on local authority provision.
“We simply just don’t have access to enough quality pitches for the sheer number of clubs in Wales. In Cardiff alone, there are more than 450 teams sharing 100 grass pitches.”
Ward argues that more access should be given to schools facilities, that more artificial 3G pitches should be constructed, and that clubs and leagues should take over the running of some pitches from cash-strapped local authorities.
He adds: “Without facilities, people can’t play and that’s a situation that hurts us all. We all know only too well that lack of physical activity puts huge pressure on an already over-stretched NHS.
“It would be easy to sit here and say that local authorities need to do more to protect our grass – but the truth of the matter is that they are facing huge financial pressures.
“But with predicted population growth, (18,000 per annum in Wales) we simply cannot stick our heads in the sand either.
“Change is also desperately required to future planning policies. With so many new homes planned across Wales, there should be an obligation on developers to develop new or enhance existing playing fields.
“At present the game tends to react to circumstances that arise rather than analysing modern trends and planning for the future. This is why we are committed to working with others on Local Action Plans which focus on future needs rather than reacting to the present: plans that propose solutions and actions to the issues that communities are confronted with.”
The FAW recently launched a “Play More Football Programme” in partnership with Lidl, designed to offer skill sessions to 30,000 pupils in 30 schools across Wales.
