The new season is upon us and with it we are delighted to announce three new BBFA Disability Pledge Clubs. Over the past month we have been working with George Green Juniors FC, Bracknell Cavaliers FC and Holyport Memorial FC who have all successful signed up to the programme.

Bracknell Cavaliers are a well-established disability football advocate having previously run inclusive teams within the club. As part of the Pledge Project, Bracknell Cavaliers will look to re-established disability football by pledging to affiliate a new team along with raising the awareness of local provision on the clubs website, social media and at their home facilities.

Holyport Memorial FC and George Green FC become our 22nd are 23rd Pledge Clubs respectively. We are delighted to welcome both Berkshire based clubs to the Disability Football Family as they pledge to help raise the awareness of disability football provision within both their clubs. Another positive for this programme is the number of non-disability clubs that are taking the pledge. The big challenge is promoting the vast array of different Disability Football opportunities across Berkshire & Buckinghamshire and getting information to those that could benefit from the provision. Sadly we hear about missed opportunities for potential new players with disabilities joining clubs because they were unaware of a local disabled football provision. The addition of Holyport Memorial FC and George Green FC to the Pledge Project will help spread the word about Disability Football across the region.

We thank the three clubs for their Pledges and look forward to working with all three organisations to raise awareness of Disability Football across the region.

Taking part in the Pledge Project is easy; clubs and leagues can make a pledge that suits the ambitions of the organisation. The pledge can be as big or small as the organisation decides but all pledges, regardless of size, will contribute to raising awareness of Disability Football.

There are 3 areas we are asking clubs to support; Awareness, Coach Education and Playing Opportunities.

Pledges don’t have to cost anything to the organisation and can require little time to complete but could have a big impact. In its simplest form an organisation could pledge to display the BBFA Disability Football Club Directory in their clubhouse. We have these professionally printed and ready to send out to clubs. By promoting this Club Directory a Player, Parent or Coach from the local region might see this and lead to a player with a disability getting involved with a local disability club.

BBFA will support all three organisations with their Pledge commitment and thank the committees for signing up to the Pledge Project.

If your organisation is interested in learning more about The Pledge Project please visit the dedicated Pledge Project website, here.

The website has lots more information about the project with further examples of potential Pledges. We also have a one-page information sheet which is easy to print off and share with your community members. This can be downloaded for free at the bottom of this page.