STAFFS FA ANNOUNCE NEW PARTNERSHIP

Staffordshire FA have announced a formal partnership with Rigby Taylor, as the two organisations say they continue to work closely together to support grassroots football clubs across the county with the improvement of their natural turf pitches. 

The Association has enjoyed a healthy working relationship with Rigby Taylor for several years now, and they say the evolution of a formal partnership between the two organisations is an important development in the Staffordshire FA grass pitch improvement strategy. 

Staffordshire FA have been actively striving to improve grassroots football pitches across the county since 2012, via various programmes and initiatives. Throughout that period, Rigby Taylor have supported many grassroots football clubs across Staffordshire with some of their core products, such as grass seed, fertilizer, chemicals, and line marking products and paints. 

Gareth Thomas, partnerships and communications officer at Staffordshire FA said, “We are delighted to enhance our relationship with Right Taylor. Nationally the Football Association are looking to improve 20,000 grassroots football pitches across the country and Staffordshire FA will be playing their part to ensure we meet and exceed our local targets.

“Staffordshire FA and our member clubs have made some great strides in recent years with regards to improving natural turf surfaces, supported by the County FA grass pitch improvement strategy. Grassroots football clubs who manage and maintain their own facilities are now able to access significant funding from the Football Foundation to support them with improving their grass pitches on an annual basis.”

He continued, “In addition to investing in appropriate pitch maintenance equipment and contractor services, clubs are also able to access funding to invest in core products too, such as grass seed, fertilizer, chemicals and line marking products. This is where our partnership with Rigby Taylor can really support clubs, ensuring that they invest in the most suitable products for their surface and budget. We look forward to developing this partnership as we collectively work towards improving as many pitches as possible across Staffordshire.”

Phil Dewhurst, Rigby Taylor’s regional sales director, added, "As a company we have for many years supported grass roots football and have partnered with the FA in their national Pitch Improvement Programme. This initiative with the Staffordshire FA however is exactly what grass roots football is all about, with a County FA and a supplier working together as partners to directly support member clubs with the aim of improving the quality of grass pitches and therefore ultimately the quality of the football being played.”