A report from football retailer FORZA has found that 70% of England and Wales’s grassroots football club’s lack sufficient funding to run properly, despite participation numbers across the country increasing by over two thirds.

FORZA’s 2024 Grassroots Report represented responses from an estimated 6000 participants, representing 600 teams from step six and below of the football pyramid.

The goals of the report were to try and reveal the true state of the game at the lower, non-paid levels and to see the challenges faced by grassroots clubs in regard to finances, facilities, and volunteer staff.

What it found was that, despite the sport still growing at a rapid rate, smaller clubs are struggling to pay for the rising running costs.

Seven in 10 clubs felt that they lacked sufficient funding for activities and 28% said that they currently have to use equipment beyond normal levels of wear and tear, an issue exacerbated by teams from multiple age groups having to use the same equipment.

Pitch space itself is also an issue with 81% of clubs having to rent pitches from external sources that charge an average of 5% more than they used to, partly due to the cost-of-living crisis.

To add to the pitch issues England’s bad weather plays havoc during winter months, with 92% of clubs saying it’s the biggest threat to match cancellations, an issue that would be less prominent if clubs had the correct facilities available for them to use.

Nearly half of all clubs, 45%, also rely on at least 11 volunteers to stay runnning.

Involved in the report was Somerset based Withiam Friary FC, after storm Ciaran battered the county last year and left many pitches unplayable.

Club secretary Zahoora Ponari explained some of the issues that club faced, saying: “Availability and cost of pitch hire when weather is poor, while raising fuel bills mean parents don’t want to travel as much/as far.

“If a game is local, everyone is on board. However, for away fixtures, we often find ourselves short of players willing to travel.

“We recently switched to a hybrid car from a diesel car to bring the costs down.”

"This season, one of our age groups has not once been allocated a referee while some league fixture secretaries are a little too lenient with reasons for cancellation/postponement of a fixture.”

However, despite the challenges the club face, Witham Friary FC are determined to grow.

Zahoora said: "I can see this club growing year on year.

 “Our next goal is to bring in some more female players and coaches as well as to complete the toilet facility and club house at the training ground.

We are holding another summer tournament in July so hopefully we'll raise some more vital funds.”