New College to Launch 3G All Weather Pitch

New College has secured funding and planning permission to develop an All Weather Pitch. Work on building the new pitch started last month and is estimated to be completed by April 2018.

The exciting new facility will be situated on the Buckhurst Fields behind New College. Partners, Wiltshire FA, have worked with New College to bring the vision for the fantastic facility to life. It will extend and maximise the opportunities for students and community groups to play sports in all weather conditions.

Once open, the 3G pitch will host full size matches or can be split so that four games can be played at once. There are plans for the pitch to be open for public use Mon-Fri 4:30pm – 9:30pm and 10am – 9:30pm over the weekend, providing 45 hours and 180 bookable sessions per week for local teams and community groups.

Football will be the core sport played on the pitch, inviting community groups of all ages and abilities to use the space for training and matches, including walking football teams. The pitch will have a spectators’ area, for friends, family and fans to watch.

The Football Academy at New College will benefit from the arrival of the pitch, allowing them to host coaching qualifications and further develop their training programme. There will also be dedicated office space available for coaching and development.

Ian Howell, Football Academy Coach said: “This new Facility will enable the New College Football Academy to develop their training and games programme. Giving the students a state of the art 3G training facility will help them develop for the future years. It will also help with winter training and games and help to expand our programme to support the local community and students joining

New College. Soccer Excellence who run Football and Multi Sport courses at New College, in line with running the Football Academy, will be able to expand and develop further courses as well.”

Key partner, Swindon Town Ladies F.C, will also be benefitting from the brand new facility, using the pitch for training purposes. The club commented: “We as a club are looking forward to seeing the new All Weather Pitch at New College. As a football club it will allow us to train in the heart of Swindon, just down the road from the football club, on what will be an excellent surface. It will help the club to move forward and enhance the current offer to the clubs players.”

The pitch is set to open in the next few months, ahead of training for the 18/19 football season. For further information on bookings, please contact the Sports Centre at New College 01793 732847.