Save Our Grassroots has announced a new £100,000 matched funding pot to help grassroots clubs across the country install new nature-based solutions at local pitches to prevent flooding and game cancellations.
It is estimated that over 100,000 games are cancelled due to poor pitch conditions, and the total pledged equates to £1 for every grassroots match postponed each season in the country. The Save Our Grassroots initiative will also be able to help clubs apply for over 100,000 free trees thanks to a link-up with the Woodland Trust, who give away hundreds of thousands of free trees to sports clubs, community groups, and schools each year.
The campaign was launched last Friday at Hingley Playing Fields in Birmingham, showcasing how nature-based solutions have helped transform these local football pitches by installing hedges and ponds to significantly reduce the risk of flooding and keep our community playing football. Hingley Playing Fields has been adversely affected by flooding from a nearby wetland area, resulting in cancelled games in recent seasons, with as many as 36 fixtures called off across different teams in the 22/23 season.
Local club Halas Hawks, the Birmingham County FA, and the Wildlife Trust teamed up to install a new pond, plant native trees, and restore hedgerows at Hingley Playing Fields, all designed to intercept and slow runoff from a nearby wetland. Since this project was completed earlier this year, there have been zero cancellations so far in the 25/26 season. Cancelled matches for Halas Hawks contributed to the 100,000 grassroots matches postponed each season due to poor pitch conditions, and this project is one of many that Save Our Grassroots is highlighting to show there are nature-based responses that can counter the growing number of waterlogged pitches, which continue to disrupt grassroots football nationwide.
Alex Ballinger, MP for Halesowen, ex-Birmingham City player Kerys Harrop, ex-Aston Villa and Birmingham City player Emma Follis, football comedian Anthony Richardson, and environmental influencer Sam Bentley all attended the event last Friday to show their support for the Hingley project. Save Our Grassroots is a campaign that tackles the growing threat of climate change and flooding to community pitches and aims to protect green spaces, created and designed by Rewriting Earth and Final Third.
Alex Ballinger MP for Halesowen said: “I was delighted to be at Hingley Playing Fields with Save Our Grassroots on Friday to see how they are investing in nature-based solutions, growing trees and setting up hedgerows next to the pitch to prevent flooding on to these football pitches.
“Through these initiatives, we can get more kids out and about playing sport, playing football, despite the British weather. This is absolutely vital for the local community, to get more young girls and boys playing sport, active, keeping healthy, and learning those leadership skills you gain from being part of a team.”
Ex-Birmingham City player, Kerys Harrop, said: “I grew up in Halesowen just around the corner from here, and as an ex-player from the women’s game, we know how devastating postponements can be, and how important spaces like Hingley Playing Fields are to the grassroots game.
“It’s fascinating to see how quickly the impact of these simple nature-based solutions can have on the state of the pitch, and it’s a real eye-opener about what more can be done to keep people playing on grass in a way that protects our green spaces and nature at the same time.” Paul Goodenough, filmmaker and founder of Save Our Grassroots, said: “I’m overcome with pride to use the game-changing work at Hingley as our blueprint for saving community fields, pitches, and games all across Britain.
“These places are at the heart of the British community - they’re part of our culture and heart - and I’m so proud to be able to announce we’ve created a £100,000 match-funding pot to help clubs all over the country raise the money they need to install natural flood solutions just like those at Hingley Fields.” The Hingley project was led by Birmingham County FA, working with Birmingham & Black Country Wildlife Trust, Ormiston Forge Academy, and Halas Hawks JFC, and the case study is being celebrated as part of the second instalment of the Save Our Grassroots campaign.
