Sport

Radcliffe football team back Bolton MP’s e-petition for Premier League to fund sport at grass roots

A campaign to get the Premier League to put more money into grass roots football setup by a Bolton MP has received backing from a new local football team.

Valley Juniors FC support the e-petition setup by MP for Bolton North East, David Crausby, who wants the Premier League to invest 7.5% of its earnings into lower league football.

The new club is based in Radcliffe and will play in the Bolton, Bury and District League, and have given Mr Crausby’s campaign a boost by including it on their kit design.

The new kit will feature the twitter account @savegrassroots – which was set up to promote the Bolton North East MPs e-petition.

David Crausby said: “It’s fantastic that Valley Juniors have chosen to show their support in this way.

“Having the backing of real grass roots clubs is a boost to the campaign and I hope that it will encourage more people to sign the petition and help put more pressure on the Premier League to make a bigger commitment to children’s grass roots football.”

The backing from Valley Juniors FC comes only a day after the Labour party launched a policy consultation, which included the idea of putting a 5% levy on the Premier League’s income from broadcasting rights, in order to fund grass roots football.

At present Mr Crausby’s petition, which calls for The Government and FA to work together to ensure that 7.5% of broadcasting rights from the Premier League is committed to grass roots football – and needs 100,000 signatures to spark a House of Commons debate – currently has 6,667.

Last year the Premier League signed new deals for TV broadcasting rights, worth more than £5 billion across three seasons.

Image courtesy of zustandsforschung, with thanks

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