1. Skip to Content
  2. Skip to Site Navigation
  3. Skip to Page Navigation
  4. Skip to Useful Links

Fulham FC Players give Netball a go at Surrey Sports Park

22 November 2011

Fulham FC Foundation and Netball team Surrey Storm have joined forces to get more people in London and the South to play netball.

Footballers Chris Baird, Karim Frei and Jesse Joronen visited Surrey Sports Park today, the home of Surrey Storm, to launch ‘Premier League for Sport Netball’ – an initiative which aims to use the profile of a Premier League Football club such as Fulham to encourage more people to play non-traditional sports like netball at a grassroots level.

This initiative is just the start of a new partnership between Fulham FC Foundation and Surrey Sports Park which will see more community projects delivered by a professional football club at this elite facility.

To launch the partnership, the footballers took part in a skills swap with the netballers, learning shooting and passing drills, while Surrey Storm’s Tamsin Greenway, Steph Bello, Katie Holland and Rhianne McHale practiced taking penalties and tested their ball juggling skills.

Fulham FC Defender Chris Baird, said, “Football is a recognised sport throughout the world. It’s important to use the power of football and global appeal of the Premier League to promote many other sports available to young people here at Surrey Sports Park.

“Participation in any sport is important to develop many skills and can help people to achieve many personal goals in their lives whilst leading a healthy lifestyle.”

Paul Blanchard CEO of Surrey Sports Park said, “We are delighted to partner with Fulham FC’s Foundation to encourage more young people in the Surrey community to play sport.  The values of performance, participation and personal development are at the heart of Surrey Sports Park, and we share the Foundation’s vision to deliver high quality community sport in the area.  We’re looking forward to working with the Club in the future on many more initiatives.”

Steven Day, Chief Executive of Fulham Football Foundation, said, “Fulham FC Foundation is delighted to form a partnership with Surrey Sports Park. Local people of all ages are able to have access to high quality sports coaching within a first class sports facility environment, which is a great opportunity to increase levels of participation in all sports.”

Fran Connolly Head of Development at England Netball said, “England Netball are excited to be involved in the Premier League 4 Sport programme and to be working with Fulham FC Foundation. Netball is one of only a few sports significantly increasing participation and we believe working with Fulham FC will enable us to reach out to even more young people using the power of the Premier League brand to engage them in Netball. This is an exciting partnership that stands to benefit both sports’.

Over 140,000 women are taking part in netball on a weekly basis and currently Netball is one of only a few sports significantly increasing its participation levels.

Fulham FC Foundation is working closely with England Netball and local Guildford netball clubs to set up community netball sessions.  One of these sessions runs at Surrey Sports Park on a Monday night between 4.30pm and 5.30pm and is open to anyone aged 11-15 years.

For further information on the Premier League for Sport initiative call Fulham FC Foundation on 0870 442 5432 or go to Fulham FC's website.