BRADFORD Park Avenue Football Club is part of a new project to encourage more of the city's young people to get involved with the beautiful game.

Community Futures is a new project involving the club, schools and Bradford-based charity the JAMES Project, with the goal of building lasting relationships between young people and getting them more interested in sport.

The club says that with youth facilities being squeezed due to Council budget cuts, this is a great way of keeping young people interested in sports.

The project is being 75 per cent funded with a £20,000 grant from The Football Conference Trust, which supports community work in clubs across the three divisions of the Vanarama Football Conference.

Led by chief executive Gareth Roberts and his management team, who took over the club in late January, the club hopes the project will help in its goal of becoming a community hub, with plans to benefit people in the area and strengthen the future of the football club itself by building a new generation of Park Avenue players.

The grant will be used to hire sports youth workers to visit schools and get more young people interested in the club and the sport.

Mr Roberts said: "Through the informal efforts of some of our supporters, we’ve already had a recent influx of teenage fans from Buttershaw and Hanson schools, who are making a huge difference to the atmosphere at our matches this season with their enthusiastic involvement and their tireless singing and chanting from the stand.

“The Community Futures project will take this sort of success further, making ongoing links to promote interest and participation in football by hundreds of boys and girls across many of our local schools.”

Anna Shepherd, development manager for JAMES, said: “We have operated in Bradford south for generations and we know the passion and drive our communities have in engaging and supporting our young people.

"This programme gives us an opportunity to get out there and get young people involved, both in football, the club and a whole range of positive healthy lifestyles activities.

"In the current climate where other provision for young people and communities is being cut back, this project is a fantastic opportunity for everyone to get involved; not only in their established local football club, but the open and accessible services on their doorstep. This is a community programme and we call on everyone to join in and take part."

One of the project's upcoming events takes place at Avenue’s Horsfall Stadium from 1pm on Saturday, April 11, when the team takes on Guiseley FC. Under-16s can get in free of charge for the event and the match.