Local Football Facility Plan Sunderland

Sunderland is located in the North East region. The current population of the Authority (ONS 2017 Mid-Year Estimate) is 277,249. This is expected to rise to 279,298 by 2039.

Sunderland’s ethnic composition is primarily white (95.93%). This is higher than the national average (85.4%).

The proportion of Sunderland’s population represented by the BAME community is 4.07%. This is below the national average (14.6%).

Sunderland is ranked as the 37th most deprived out of 326 English Local Authoorities.

Sunderland is part of the Parklife Football Hubs programme. Its aim is to create a sustainable model for football facilities based around sustainable football facilities on hub sites.

Local authority

Sunderland’s City Plan (2019-2030) sets out it vision for a Healthy City, with more people living healthier longer lives. As part of this, the Council recognises the importance of sport and physical activity and in 2018 adopted a strategy that is consistent with national Government policy. It aims to deliver an "all together Active Sunderland - a city where everyone is as active as they can be".

The Authority's Playing Pitch Strategy was updated in 2018. The key findings and stated overarching priorities are to create an additional ten 3G FTPs as part of the Parklife programme and to improve a number of grass pitches to relieve shortfalls.

County football association

Sunderland is covered by Durham County FA which provides governance and development support to all aspects of local football including coaches, referees, volunteers, clubs and leagues; supporting football for all. The County FA has a designated facilities investment lead officer who works to ensure that the right facilities are located in the right locations.

Football Foundation

The Regional Engagement Manager and Regional Technical Project Manager at the Football Foundation work collaboratively with the County FA to provide pre-application support to priority projects for potential investment.

Sport England

Has a network of planning managers who have a statutory role in the planning system to protect playing fields and provide consultation responses to planning applications relating to sporting facilities. They also play a key role in strategic planning for sports facilities, providing advice and support to local authorities to assess need for facilities in their local area.

Professional club community organisations (CCOs)

These continue to expand and enhance their range of community delivery, offering a variety of programmes and services to support local communities (sporting and non-sporting). The Sunderland Foundation of Light runs a variety of health, education, engagement, football and sporting activities within the local area.

Local leisure operator

Everyone Active is the key leisure operator in Sunderland. It currently manages key City leisure centre sites including Silksworth Sports Complex, which has a 3G FTP.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Sunderland. 25 individuals (representing 20 local organisations) were consulted.

(See Appendix B for full list of consultees)

Clubs

There are over 91,000 community football teams in England, spread over an expansive network of clubs and leagues. Sunderland has a total of 543 teams playing within the City, which is comparable to local areas of a similar size.

The FA is investing to support clubs both on and off the pitch; this includes an aim to have a qualified FA coach with every youth team by 2020/21. In addition, it will support 1,000 clubs to create full player pathways from youth to adult teams and develop 150 community football hubs with male and female pathways, disability and recreational playing opportunities.

Over the last 10-years there has been a significant national increase in the number of large multi-team football clubs. In Sunderland 14 clubs have more than 10 registered teams. The largest of these (based upon 2017-18 affiliation data) are:

• Washington AFC – 51 teams
• Washington United Youth FC – 35 teams
• North East Sports Youth FC – 31 teams
• Foundation of Light – 23 teams
• Hetton Juniors FC – 21 teams
• Washington Athletic Youth FC – 21 teams
• Washington NSG Athletic Youth FC - 19 teams
• Washington Juniors FC – 18 teams
• Improtech Elite Youth FC - 15 teams
• Humbledon & Plains Farm FC – 14 teams
• Sunderland Velocity Youth FC - 14 teams
• HFC United Youth FC - 13 teams
• Sunderland West End FC- 10 teams
• Sunderland City Juniors FC - 10 teams

Nine leagues operate in Sunderland. They offer competitive opportunities for many different players, including women and girls, youth and adults. While there are no specific league opportunities for disability football within Sunderland at this moment in time, provision is made in Middlesbrough via the North East Ability Counts League.

Sunderland‘s largest local leagues include:

• Russell Foster Youth League- 368 teams (based in Sunderland) – home and away / central venue / central venue at multiple sites
• Sunderland Sunday Football League (Adult) - 54 teams – home and away / central venue at multiple sites
• Sunderland and District Sunderland Mill View Social Club Over 40s League – 69 teams – home and away

The County FA reports that significant cross boundary migration within Durham and between the County and Northumberland and North Riding due to teams migrating inwards and outwards from the three aforementioned leagues based within Sunderland.

When Sunderland's Parklife hub sites are established, the Russell Foster Youth League will play mini soccer and 9v9 fixutres at them, commencing during the 2019-20 season. The Sunderland Sunday Football League will also host a large proportion of its fixtures at the hub sites incorporating flexible kick off times for Sunday morning match play.

Disability football

There are 9.4million people in England with a long-standing limiting disability, illness or condition which equates to 18% of the population – almost one in five. Football playing opportunities should be flexible, inclusive and accessible for everyone, whatever their level of ability. This could entail inclusion in mainstream activity or teams / sessions specifically for people with a disability.

In Sunderland there are ten football teams / sessions specifically for people with a disability. It is a priority of the County FA to grow this provision. For talented players the FA runs regional centres and England national squads.

Women and girls

The FA has big ambitions for the female game and aims to double levels of participation by 2020. To achieve this requires a combined effort across four pathways: education, recreation, competition and talent.

Education environments have a huge impact on the first experience of football for young girls. This pathway can offer many opportunities for females of all ages to develop and grow a lifelong interest in football.

FA Wildcats girls football centres provide the first step on the recreational pathway, the programme provides girls aged 5-11 with regular opportunities to play football in a fun and engaging environment. The City has two FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow this further.

At 33 Sunderland’s number of female teams is comparable to local areas of a similar size. The County FA’s priority is to support existing clubs to grow and encourage more clubs to develop playing opportunities for females. The local girls league is the Russell Foster Girls’ Youth League; matches are played on a home and away and central venue basis. It is expected to grow provision in future years. The local adult female league is the DCFA Women’s League; its matches are also played on a home and away basis and it is expected to grow provision in future years.

For talented players, the most local FA regional talent club (RTC) is Sunderland/Gateshead RTC which is located in Sunderland, with a number of these due to use Parklife hub sites from the 2019/20 season. Higher level talent pathway opportunities are also provided regionally and nationally by the FA, culminating in the England Women’s national squads. The most local Women’s Super League team was previously Sunderland AFC Ladies; however, it now plays in the FA Women's National League North. The Club provides player pathway opportunities for gifted and talented female players.

Small-sided football

Many different types of small-sided football are played in England, from teams and leagues to recreational and informal. It is an established and important part of the modern game.

Small-sided teams & leagues are organised and competitive activities; typically with players registered to clubs and affiliated to leagues and their County FAs. Examples include Futsal and local small-sided leagues running at venues such as sports halls, 3G FTPs or small-sided 3G centres.

Key local providers include:

• Goals – Sunderland Bede College
• Sunderland Foundation - Beacon of Light
• Soccer Sixes at Biddick Academy
• Silksworth Sports Complex
• Washington Leisure Centre

Futsal is an exciting, fast-paced, small sided team game that is widely played across the world. Typically it is played on an indoor surface with hockey-sized goals and a size 4 football with reduced ball bounce. It is the FA’s aim to ensure that Futsal is available across the country.

There are currently 15 futsal teams in Sunderland that play in the BUCS, EFL and County leagues at key site locations including five venues. It is a priority for the County FA to grow and sustain Futsal for male, female, youth and adult players.

Recreational football

Recreational football is played where facilities are typically booked and there might be someone to help organise. Examples include FA Just Play sessions, walking football and casual pitch hire for small-sided match play.

There is currently one FA Just Play Centre in Sunderland. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of providers. Walking football and Just Play are formats that the County FA has prioritised for further growth and development. Other local recreational football programmes include flexible football league and casual bookings which are delivered by a range of organisations including the Durham County FA.

Informal football

Informal football is played in local parks and green spaces – it is free, open access and often played spontaneously (normal clothing is worn). Common examples include a kick-about at a local park or on a multi-use games area (MUGA).

Sunderland is a city that benefits from wide open spaces and green space, with opportunities already created by the installation of small sided goals on such open space. There are a number of informal kick-a-bout areas located across the City and these have been strategically planned ensuring all localities have access.

In addition, informal football in Sunderland is played in local parks.

The key strengths of local football in Sunderland include large multi-team clubs, and the local youth and adult league provision and it is recommend that this is sustained and also encouraged to grow further. However, gaps in provision do exist, these include the recreational football offer.

It is therefore recommended that the future football development priorities for Sunderland are:

1.Recreational offer (including Walking Football, Just Play Centres & Flexible Football)

2.Women & girls (including Wildcats Programme)

3.Disability football

4.Affiliated football (all formats)

5.Small sided & Futsal

The facilities required to assist this are now set out in the Assets and opportunities section.

Each priority project that progresses to a funding application via the Football Foundation will produce a detailed ‘site development plan’ specifying all football development activity, usage and key partner engagement.

This section reviews existing football facility assets in Sunderland. It identifies current issues and presents opportunities for improvements, including a list of priority projects for potential investment.

Local assets and opportunities have been reviewed inline with four investment priorities:

1. 3G FTPs
2. Improved grass pitches
3. Changing room pavilions / clubhouses
4. Small-sided facilities

To ensure a consistent and high quality approach, each local area has been reviewed applying a standard approach, supplemented by input from consultation with local partners and stakeholder organisations.

While each investment priority is reviewed individually, it is understood that they can be inter-reliant; account is, thus, taken of these potential connections.

3G FTPs are a high quality and indispensable part of modern football facilities; their impact cannot be underestimated. In recent years the industry has seen major innovations and improvements to artificial surfaces (and sports lighting). This has created playing surfaces that replicate a good standard natural turf pitch whilst significantly increasing levels of use (x20). All FTPs must have sports lighting to achieve this.

The high quality, consistent playing surface is the ideal environment to play the game and for young people to learn. With regular maintenance programmes, FTPs can be heavily used all year round with no decline in quality. They almost completely negate annoying fixture cancellations during winter months, helping football to be a key part of a regular physical activity habit.

High capacity levels offer a great opportunity to embrace all formats and engage all participants. A full-sized 3G caters for an average of 1,200 participants per week and is suitable for various location types. That means being fully inclusive to all sections of the community, with a particular focus on under-represented groups such as women and girls, people with a disability, BAME communities and people from lower socio-economic groups.

The way 3G FTPs are used is rapidly changing; current line-marking systems allow for match play across all formats of football (5v5, 7v7, 9v9 and 11v11). This enables significant levels of match-play to be transferred from grass to 3G.

The national ‘Mini Pitch’ programme delivers small 3G FTPs at primary school sites to provide a high quality introduction to football and get children more physically active. While mini pitches are reviewed in this section, they are not included in the demand and supply analysis for 3G FTPs.

FA data and the PPS (2018) state that there are currently six full 3G FTPs in Sunderland; this is a shortfall of 10 pitches relative to assessed demand.

Existing 3G FTPs in Sunderland are located at:

• Biddick Academy
• Castle View Sports Centre
• Farringdon Community Academy
• Kepier School
• Silksworth Sports Complex (x2)

As part of Sunderland's Parklife programme, ten additional (11v11) full-sized FTPs are soon to be established across three sites. Northern Area Playing Fields will have four, whilst Downhill and Ford Quarry will provide three each. These new facilities will address the full-sized 3G pitch shortfall in Sunderland and will be ready for use for the 2019/20 season.

There are also currently three small-sided 3G FTP centres in Sunderland:

• Beacon of Light
• Goals Soccer Centre
• Washington Leisure Centre

In addition, there are a number of schools that also have single small-sided FTPs that are used for football.

All of the full size FTPs are available for community use. All are also on the FA Register for 3G FTPs (meaning they are quality checked and can be used for football match play).

The geographic spread of existing facilities is even; pitches are well spread out meaning that shortfalls are consistent throughout the City.

Local consultation reveals common issues with high pricing and low availability and it is recommended that these are addressed.

As Sunderland has been selected as on the first Parklife programmes, there are no further priority projects for potential investment hidentified as the current shortfall will be alleviated when the new FTPs are installed.

It is recommended that the provision of 3G FTPs is revisited after the Parklife schemes have been operational for 24 months via a review and update of the City's PPS. Until such time, no new 3G proposals will be considered as part of the LFFP.

Playing fields are one of the most important resources for sport in England. All football players should have the opportunity to play on good quality grass pitches. However, FA data shows that 63% of pitches in England are poor / low standard and one in six games is cancelled. As such, poor pitch quality is consistently cited as the number one issue for players.

The priority is, therefore, to sustainably improve grass pitch quality across all main pitch owners (local authorities, education establishments and clubs). However, the level of maintenance required to obtain good quality standards is regularly affected by restricted budgets and limited knowledge/ training. Compaction and grass coverage are two key causes of poor quality pitches. Both are commonly treated via a maintenance driven solution (and do not necessarily require costly drainage schemes).

Playing fields are also a valuable resources for informal play and open-access sites are encouraged but, for many, problems such as dog fouling and vandalism mean that they need to be protected with mitigation measures such as fencing.

Often the key challenge is to create a sustainable approach to provide good quality football pitches for the long-term. Most local authorities (78%) intend to increase pitch hire fees in the future. However, the majority of players (63%) believe facilities are already expensive and some (16%) believe prices are prohibitive. A sustainable solution should, therefore, carefully balance pitch quality and affordability.

While the education sector (37%) and local authorities (32%) are still the principal asset owners of grass pitches, clubs / leagues own or maintain an increasing share (currently 25%). Assets and opportunities have been considered across each sector.

Although large (3+ pitch) strategic sites are important and make up much of the project list within the LFFPs, this does not mean that other club, league and community/voluntary sites are not important or eligible for funding. These sites are key to the Football Foundation's Grass Pitch Programme to deliver 20,000 good quality pitches.

For more information click here.

PitchPower

The PitchPower app is the gateway to any grass pitch improvement funding. It is the tool that will allow clubs and organisations to complete pitch inspections and access funds.

If you haven't signed up and completed a PitchPower pitch inspection, you will need to do this before you can apply for the Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund.

Learn more by clicking here.

PitchFinder and PPS data indicates that there are currently 28 grass pitch sites in Sunderland with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or smaller sites deemed to be strategically important). Overall these contain 97 grass pitches.

Of the 28 key sites, four are considered to have good quality pitches, 18 are assessed as being of standard quality and six are poor quality.

Local consultation shows common issues with poor quality, particularly relating to drainage.

13 priority projects for potential investment have been identified. Each either has three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or has fewer pitches but is deemed to be strategically important) of poor or standard quality. Pitch quality rating was evidenced by the PPS and qualified by local partners.

Due to the significant overall number of grass pitch sites in Sunderland, only 13 (which between them contain 34 full-size pitch equivalents) have been prioritised. This process was informed by local partners based upon a rationale of selecting sites in the poorest condition, that had the most pitches, that are the best utilised , or based upon a specific area based strategic focus to improve local authority pitches.

Ten of the sites selected for improvement have undergone a recent PIP visit undertaken by the IoG.

These can provide a number of different benefits. While the primary function is normally the provision of changing rooms to accommodate match-play and training (for players and officials), there can be equal value in facilities such as community and education rooms, catering facilities and spectator toilets.

Each project will take a progressive approach to pavilions and clubhouses (beyond the provision of changing rooms) and be open to new opportunities to engage the whole community. That means, creating environments that are welcoming to players, spectators, volunteers, officials and all sections of the community.

Such assets should support other investment priorities (e.g. 3G FTPs and grass pitches) and be located at sites that will have the greatest impact on local communities. To ensure this, sites with three or more full-size pitch equivalents tend to be given priority. However, as pitch quality is the number one issue for players this is considered ahead of investment in changing room pavilions /clubhouses.

Clearly, facilities need to be well managed and maintained to keep them in a good state of repair. Consideration will be given to reviewing the best operator solution for key sites and the installation of revenue generating features such as catering facilities and community rooms. To achieve this, business plan support will be given to each priority project as it progresses to an application to the Football Foundation.

Of the 28 key sites with three or more full-size pitch equivalents (or deemed to be strategically important), 20 have suitable changing room pavilions/clubhouses or are without such provision but are deemed not to need one. Six have facilities that need improvement and two require a new changing pavilion.

Eight priority projects for potential investment have therefore been identified. Each either has three or more full-size pitch equivalents or is a strategically important smaller site. Each presently either has no facilities or is deemed to have an currently unsuitable pavilion.

Good facilities are important to all small-sided football players, but it is important to understand the different formats of the small-sided game and the various facility types they relate to.

Research suggests that small-sided players in teams & leagues, and in recreational sessions, prefer a 3G surface type because it replicates a good standard natural turf pitch. These facilities have already been covered in the 3G FTP section of this LFFP.

Indoor environments currently accommodate 20% of football participation and are also popular with players in teams & leagues and recreational sessions . Indoor sports halls are most popular, along with some community halls and indoor 3G centres. Environments need to be engaging, have clear line-marking and the correct size goalposts.

Informal players require facilities that are open and free to access as this enables play opportunities that are often spontaneous. In these circumstances multi-use games areas (MUGAs) can be effective in areas of high urban population and limited green space. Such facilities can be modern, bright, creative and engaging. While this plan will identify suitable locations for such facilities, the design and specifics of the facility type can be agreed at a later stage with Football Foundation staff when projects are ready to progress to pre-application stage.

Parks and open green spaces are also important to informal play and require goalposts and zones that are free from litter and dog fouling.

Local consultation reveals two indoor facilities that require improvement to develop small-sided football.

Seven potential opportunities for MUGA’s have been identified. In each case the rationale is based on the site being in an area of high urban population, with limited green space, high levels of deprivation, high levels of lower social economic groups and corresponding high local demand for informal football. Sport England recreational football mapping also suggests that sites 19 (Marley Pots playing field) and 22 (Barnes Park) are well located in respect of proximity to informal football demand from the local population.

Following local consultation, three locations have been identified to support small-sided informal football. Here, the rationale is based on highly popular local parks and open green spaces with suitable space / areas to increase provision for informal football:

• Development Officer - Sunderland City Council
• Area Development Lead (Coalfield) - Sunderland City Council
• Area Development Lead (East) - Sunderland City Council
• Area Development Lead (North) - Sunderland City Council
• Area Development Lead (West) - Sunderland City Council
• Executive Director - Tyne Wear Sport
• Assistant Director - Tyne Wear Sport
• Assistant Director - Foundation of Light
• Secretary - Sunderland Sunday Football League
• Project Manager - Youth Almighty
• Chairman - North East Sport
• Project Manager - Young Asian Voices
• Sports Advisor - StreetGames
• Project Manager - Lambton Street Youth Centre
• Project Manager - Sunderland Community Action Group
• Manager - Sunderland Samba
• Sports Development Manager - University of Sunderland
• Curriculum Manager - Sunderland College
• Youth Worker - A690 Project
• Biddick Academy
• Castle View Enterprise Academy
• Hetton School
• Kepier School
• Monkwearmouth Academy
• Thronhill Academy