Funding boost as Kirkcaldy football partnership bids for new £1m synthetic pitch

Kirkcaldy Community Football Partnership is looking to add a new 3G synthetic pitch at Denfield Park which is home to a number of teams.,

The community partnership brings Kirkcaldy YMCA FC, Dysart AFT, Templehall United FC and Kirkcaldy FC - and its project was hailed as “very commendable” by Councillor Ian Cameron, convener of the area committee which rubber stamped the funding. He said it had “massive potential” for the entire community.

Councillor Kathleen Leslie (Conservative for Burntisland, Kinghorn and Western Kirkcaldy) was also very supportive: “The opportunities this opens up for people across the Kirkcaldy area and for young people and kids is great. This is definitely a positive and the more young people we can get involved in football, this mentions girls and women’s teams, the more the better.

The partnership needs the pitch to meet growing demand - particularly for local ladies football teams. It has asked the council to help to create a new, full size 3G synthetic pitch adjacent to its existing grass facility.

“All other community based synthetic pitch provision in the area is based within an education setting, for curriculum use, and therefore not bookable by others,” councillors were told. “This facility offers a unique opportunity in Kirkcaldy to access a 3G surface, open to the community during school hours.”

The aim is to have a new full size 3G synthetic pitch with floodlighting and additional fencing.

“This will bring the current ash/blaes pitch back into a useful community asset available for all,” councillors were told.

In total, the new pitch is expected to cost around £900,000 but the committee has only been asked to contribute a portion. The partnership plans to apply for Department for Culture Media & Sport and SFA funding in the new year, which could fund up to 50% of the total cost of the project.

Councillors were told there is a “real benefit to the Kirkcaldy area if this project is realised.”

“Investing in grassroots football facilities, programmes and activities involving a range of club, public and third sector partners would help to address inequalities within the most deprived areas of Kirkcaldy,” a report from Fife’s Communities and Neighbourhoods Service stated.

The money from the area’s capital budget was originally allocated to another Kirkcaldy project in 2022, but the voluntary organisation in charge of the athletic track development backed out of the deal - freeing up the council funds. Now, the committee has promised the money to the KCFP if it can secure the rest of the funding for the project.