Every Player Counts 2015-22
In partnership with the EFL Trust, we have been funding the Club Community Organisations (CCOs) of about half of the EFL Clubs to deliver disability football projects within their local communities. CCOs were invited to identify and apply for funds to support whatever need was greatest within their own area in respect of disability football provision. This resulted in a wide-ranging and varied programme of activities for disabled people of all ages and either physical impairments, sensory loss, learning disabilities or enduring mental ill health.
Across two distribution rounds over five year period, WNST has invested some £1,600,000 in Every Player Counts, distributed amongst more than 40 of the EFL clubs, spread across the whole country – Plymouth to Southend, Sunderland to Brighton. (Some clubs have been involved in both rounds of funding, some in only one or the other). During the first three years of the programme, there were more than 11,000 individual participants, with around two-thirds attending regularly. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic has seriously disrupted the delivery of the final two years of the work, but clubs are working within the official guidelines to engage as and where they can, ensuring that those who want to play still have the opportunity to do so.
