THE days of a community football club’s players getting changed in an old steel container are numbered following two huge grants.

The Football Foundation has given Rushmoor Community FC £425,542 towards develop-ing a new changing pavilion at its Southwood Playing Fields ground in Grasmere Road, Farnborough.

Rushmoor Borough Council has also received a Sport England-managed grant of £115,000 as part of the Com-munity Club Development Programme (CCDP), due to Rushmoor Community FC’s status as a Charter Standard Community Club.

The accolade is awarded to clubs that are judged to play an active and positive part in the community. The club has gone from one youth team a decade ago to now having 11 junior teams and a senior side.

The cheques were handed over to club secretary Stephen Read at a ceremony outside the council’s headquarters last week.

Mr Read said: “We’re delighted to have achieved the charter standard, enabling the provision of facilities like this within our community.”

Mr Read, who has been involved with the club for more than a decade, praised what is in store for the club’s 250 players. The plans include six changing rooms, offices, storage space and a kitchen that opens on to a function room.

He said: “It is a well designed facility with changing, admin-istrative, storage and social needs being met.”

The design complies with Football Foundation guide-lines and the Disability Dis-crimination Act.

All changing rooms, for players and officials, will have showers, and toilets for male, female and disabled spectators will be provided.

Mr Read added: “The club would like to thank all those who supported us and helped realise our goals. They include Farnborough Rugby Club, which assisted in our early period of growth, the football club committee, managers, parents and players. Our close links with the Hampshire FA and the borough council also helped enable this success.”

The club’s 12 teams play in the North-East Hampshire Youth League and the Aldershot and District League.

Borough council officers helped the club’s grant appli-cation by showing the Football Foundation how a new pavilion would help the community.

Cllr Diane Bedford, Rush-moor’s portfolio holder for leisure and youth, is delighted that one of the more deprived areas of Hampshire had received such a boost.

The Tory said: “This is brilliant news for the local area. I thank the Football Foundation and Sport England for their incredible support with junior football in the area.”

Lord Pendry, president of the Football Foundation, said: “Rushmoor Community FC will now be able to play an even bigger role in developing the grass roots game in its area.

“Foundation investment, alongside the CCDP funding, is strengthening the bond between local clubs and the communities they serve.”

Since the foundation was launched seven years ago it has funded 112 projects worth more than £18million across Hampshire. It is a partnership between the Football Assoc-iation, the Premier League and the government.

It seeks to promote edu-cation and social inclusion by improving football facilities.

Judith Dean, Sport England’s regional director, added: “This facility provides a huge boost for the local community, helping more people get involved and reach their potential.

“We want funds to go directly to the heart of the community sport to revitalise popular facilities and encour-age more people to take part in sport more often.”

Sport England aims to get 300,000 more people in the south-east taking part in sport for 30 minutes, three times a week, by 2012.

Call Mr Read on 07974 777262 or email him at stephen.read@1st-millen nium.co.uk if you wish to get involved with the club.