A HUB OF THE COMMUNITY!

I HAVE always been really impressed by the altruistic work of County Football Associations up and down the country. They are ultimately responsible for supporting the game at the grassroots and Non-League levels. This means there is an unstinting commitment towards ensuring that football is accessible to everyone with the best possible experience on offer.

- Tony INCENZO

As a case study, I went to see a match at the brand new Bedfordshire County FA 3G facility in Cranfield which was opened last month.

Neatly tucked away at the end of a new housing estate, the ‘Cranfield Pavilion’ has an extensive car park with 67 spaces. This stretches alongside the full-size artificial floodlit pitch which has a designated spectator area down one side.

The pavilion building itself houses two football changing rooms, male and female officials’ changing rooms, an education classroom space, plus an office, kitchen, and toilets.

A unique feature is that a footbridge was incorporated at the design stage and provides a direct link to the nearby Crawley Road home ground of Cranfield United FC, who play in the Bedfordshire County League. The club holds a bar license and they can now increase their revenue as a result of extra footfall from those using the new Pavilion arena.

After I watched an entertaining Tactic League scholarship fixture involving the Pro Direct Academy Luton team, I asked Bedfordshire FA chief executive officer Alan Young how the Cranfield set-up had come about and why it was necessary.

He told me: “We have our main headquarters based in Dunstable. But the desire to serve our clubs in the north of Bedfordshire was something that could be achieved with this opportunity at Cranfield.