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Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen, Matchday
News

AFCCT Equity Project receives SFP funding

29 September 2015

Aberdeen FC Community Trust have received funding through the Scottish Football Partnership’s Community Initiative scheme to deliver 3 Equity Football Participation Centres, with a focus on children, young people and adults from ethnic and/or religious minorities, primarily in areas of social deprivation in and around Aberdeen.

The centres will run throughout the school terms and will be ran by AFCCT coaches along with volunteers from the local community and have the focus of allowing a natural integration of diverse communities through the pull of football. 

Harley Hamdani, Equity Officer at AFCCT added  “The support we have received from The Scottish Football Partnership to grow and expand the number of equity participation centres in the region will allow Aberdeen FC Community Trust to have an even further reach and positive impact within ethnic minority communities. Young people who previously may not have had the opportunity to take part in the sport, for a variety of both real and perceived barriers, will now have an environment and pathway created in which they play, enjoy and develop.”

The Trust’s aim is to link these centres to grassroots clubs where the club will become truly representative of their local community through the active engagement in the participation centres, providing a pathway for children, coaches and volunteers who wish to progress within the game. 
Going forward, these grassroots clubs will be encouraged to take an active role in the running of the centres once they have been established for a period of time and the existing centre will then be tied up to a club as a form of expansion. 

Ally Prockter, Chief Executive Officer of Aberdeen FC Community Trust said “This project will provide the opportunity for over 130 children, young people and adults to take part in football, many of whom are from an ethnic or religious minority background, allowing them to gain a greater sense of belonging to their local community and to achieve a higher level of confidence. The lasting benefit to AFCCT will be the important relationships that are formed and strengthened with these groups through the establishment of our Equity Football Participation Centres.”
 

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