NON-LEAGUE FOOTBALL: Stadium upgrade for Wisbech St Mary

The club's Chairman Ian Rawlins (second from right), Secretary Martin Holmes (second from left), and Sponsorship Co-ordinator Martin Dimambro (far left), were joined by Sue and Allan Carr from the stadium's sponsor, ABC Quality Meats, and first team Manager Arran Duke (far right) to mark the occasion.

In partnership with Wisbech St Mary Sports & Community Centre, the club has been able to carry out improvements thanks to a £19,990 grant received from the Premier League’s Football Stadia Improvement Fund (FSIF) – the largest funders of non-league football in the country.

The funding has enabled the club, which was formed in 1993, to make a number of improvements comprising a brand new covered spectator viewing area, four additional floodlights and ball stop netting.

The new covered stand will improve the matchday experience for spectators, helping to attract new fans to the club. The installation of extra floodlight lamps will help to provide safer, more flexible matches and training for the club’s teams, which range from the Under 7s to their adult side.

Wisbech St Mary FC unveiled their upgraded home ground, which will improve the experience for players and fans. The first team (pictured above) and club staff are delighted with the improvements.

The club’s first team play in Division One of the Thurlow Nunn Eastern Counties League.

The club had previously received a total of £17,130 from two other grants delivered by the FSIF. The investment helped to fund the club’s other spectator stand, new dug-outs and pitch surface improvements.

Martin Holmes, secretary of both Wisbech St Mary FC and Wisbech St Mary Sports & Community Centre, said: “We are very grateful to the FSIF for their continued support. It demonstrates that funding does find its way to grassroots football from the top of the game.

“Our club and the community centre are very proud of what we have achieved in the past few seasons. We will continue to improve facilities as the club develops.”

Peter McCormick OBE, chairman of the Football Stadia Improvement Fund, said: “I am pleased that Premier League money, delivered though the FSIF, has helped Wisbech St Mary Sports & Community Centre and Wisbech St Mary FC to build a new stand and upgrade their floodlights.

“The Premier League invests in improving stadia for clubs at the lower levels of the game, and this project is an excellent example of what that money achieves.”