Award-winning charity Sport Aberdeen has provided grants of up to £400 to local sports clubs to help alleviate the negative effects of Covid-19.

This funding is aimed at supporting local clubs to reactivate after the devastating impact the lockdown restrictions have had on the sporting community.

The support is available to clubs that are linked to any of the five Community Sports Hubs, supported by Sport Aberdeen, based within Aberdeen City.

Community Sports Hubs is a national sportscotland initiative that aims to bring together sport clubs and community organisations that want to develop and grow the sporting offering locally.

Graeme Dale, Head of Sport and Active Communities, said:

“Creating opportunities for people to participate in physical activity within local communities is at the heart of the charity and we are delighted, with support from sportscotland, to be able to offer some help through these grants to the clubs who are part of the various Community Sports Hubs in the city.”

Graeme Dale

“The impact that Covid-19 has had on the whole sporting community, from grassroots clubs to professional athletes is devastating and will take quite some time to recover from.

Aberdeen Bon Accord MBC Hockey Club said:

“We know how hard the pandemic has been on everyone and members of our hockey club, we have continued to remain positive throughout by providing virtual support and luckily for us at the tail end of 2020 we did manage to get onto a hockey pitch to play our beloved sport. 

“We applied for the Covid-19 Re-activation Fund from our local hub and were successful in gaining £400 which we have put to good use and are grateful for and encourage all clubs to find their nearest hub and become a member as we have found it a useful community membership.”

Northstar Community Football Club said:

“Thanks to the Sport Aberdeen Community Sports Hub reactivation grant of £400, the club has been able to continue to invest in equipment and volunteer development for our latest and youngest age group.

“This grant has helped purchase equipment for training such as training balls, training bibs and cones and been utilised to provide first aid and coaching badges to ensure that the team and coaches are ready to hit the ground running when the government relax current restrictions. 

“The funding has been hugely beneficial as a starting age group requires funding for initial set up which would have not been possible to generate during this time without the funding from this grant.  Everyone from Northstar Community Football Club are grateful for this support and we will continue to support the hub and our local community.”

For more information on support available for your club, please email: communitysportshub@sportaberdeen.co.uk