Norfolk County FA Shortlisted For 2023 County FA Recognition Award
Norfolk County FA Shortlisted For 2023 County FA Recognition Award
Norfolk County Football Association has been successfully shortlisted for the Facility Development at the 2023 County FA Recognition Awards for its Grass Pitch Improvement project.
The Awards, which will be announced at Wembley Stadium connected by EE on Thursday 23 November 2023, recognise and endorse the best projects, products and services delivered by County FAs over the past season while sharing best practice and learnings from around the country.
A record breaking 242 submissions have been entered from the 50 County FAs operating across England, highlighting continuous improvements and showcasing how they are innovating to improve grassroots football and increase participation across all levels of the game.
The twelve categories which will be recognised at the awards were:
- Brand Engagement
- Coach Development
- Employee Wellbeing & Engagement
- Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
- Facility Development
- Football Development
- Partnership
- Positive Football Environment
- Referee Development
- Special recognition
- Women & Girls
- Youth Engagement
Norfolk County FA has made the final shortlist for the Facility Development Award for our Grass Pitch Improvement project. Utilising a data driven approach, this enabled us to gain a strong understanding of the grass pitch landscape across Norfolk, covering ownership, usage, condition, future developments, threats and opportunities which in turn enabled us to exceed our grass pitch improvement target by over 70%, achieving a total of 186 pitches. We have also helped Clubs access a total of £373,000 via the Football Foundation from the Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund and a further £278,000 of Football Foundation investment via the Small Grants scheme, all key to improving the overall quality of grass pitches.
Matt Carpenter, Norfolk FA CEO said: "We are delighted to have been shortlisted in the Facility Development category which is fantastic national recognition of the work, led by Ian Grange and Rachel Cossey, that we have undertaken to improve playing surfaces across the county, supported by hardworking volunteer grounds staff at our grassroots Clubs. We look forward to attending the awards event and wish the best of luck to all of the other County FA’s nominated.”
The FA’s Head of Operations for Grassroots Football, Tim Foster added: “I’d like to congratulate Norfolk County FA in making the final shortlist for the Facility Development award and all of the other shortlisted County FAs in what has been a record-breaking number of submissions this year.
It has been fantastic to see such a strong selection of programmes and projects entered across the twelve categories, and we look forward to hosting our County FAs at Wembley Stadium in November to thank them for all they do in serving our national game.”
For more information on the work of County FAs, visit: https://www.englandfootball.com/explore/county-football-associations