Holmesdale maintain their Kent League status with floodlighting grant

HOLMESDALE will maintain their Kent League status next season, courtesy of a grant of over £40,000, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Oakley Road outfit have received a boost today following a £40,525 award by the Football Association, the UK’s largest sports charity.

The funding will go towards installing floodlights - which will keep the club in the Kent League - and create a new pitch side pathway.

The Dalers, who clinched the British Energy Kent County League title last season were instructed to install floodlights within a year to maintain their current status.

The Bromley club are now legible to apply to enter both the FA Cup and the FA Vase as they’ll be able to play under floodlighting.

The Football Association is dedicated to revitalising the grass roots of the game, constructing modern football facilities, developing football as a force for social cohesion and as a vehicle for education in communities throughout the country.

Funded by the Premier League, The Football Association, Sport England and the Government, the Football Foundation is the nation’s largest sports charity with a £45m budget going straight into the heart of football.

“We warmly congratulate Holmesdale Football Club for their hard work and dedication in securing this award,” Mr Paul Thorogood, the Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, told www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

He added: “Sport is playing a central role in helping people to stay fit, strengthen communities and promote responsibility amongst young people.

“I am delighted that Football Foundation investment is opening up access to sport in Kent and I encourage other organisations in the region to apply to us.”

Mr Ray Tolfrey hails today’s news as a new era for the Bromley outfit.

“As a club we can now plan for the future,” the Dalers chairman told www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“This Football Foundation grant will help us to establish ourselves within the Kent League and take Holmesdale Football Club into a new era of senior football and entry into the FA Cup and FA Vase.”

At present the Dalers are second-from-bottom in the first ever Kent League campaign, having picked up five wins and ten draws from their 30 games.

They travel to Sevenoaks Town for their penultimate game at the weekend (19^th April) before welcoming Herne Bay to Oakley Road on the last day of their campaign seven days later.

Meanwhile, Holmesdale’s reserve side will lock horns with Canterbury City in the Kent County Group A Cup Final at Corinthian Sports Club, Valley Road, Fawkham, Longfield, DA3 8LY on Saturday, 3^rd May (3pm).

The side have battled their way to the final, scoring 18 goals and conceding only four. Canterbury City have clinched the Kent County League Division Two East title at the first attempt.

Visit Holmesdale’s website: www.holmesdalefc.co.uk