Providing that East Riding Clubs meet basic eligibility criteria, anyone can apply, although this year sees a particular emphasis placed on increasing the number of teams and players in the Under-15 and above age bracket, an age group where participation numbers traditionally decline as youngsters leave school and college. The other key focus is on growing the numbers of girls, women's and disability teams.

Clubs in East Riding will be able to access grants through the Grow the Game Scheme, which will be managed by The Football Foundation, the nation’s largest sports charity.

The window for Grow the Game application is open from Monday 6 January 2014 and closes on Monday 17 February 2014.

Grow the Game funding is designed to increase participation in our national game by helping Clubs to meet the essential costs of creating new teams. The grants can help pay for things like League entry, referees fees, first aid kits, FA coaching courses and kits. £1,500 will be available towards creating a new team.

Ben Shephard explained: “Grow the Game makes a real difference to grassroots clubs and their volunteers across the country, so this funding, provided by the Premier League and The FA, is excellent news for them.”

“This year we want to continue to increase participation across all age ranges, but particularly want to build on the success of last year by continuing to drive-up the numbers of people playing the game amongst under-represented groups, in particular the Under-15 and above group, as well as women’s, girls’ and disability teams.”

“The application window opens on Monday 6 January, and any clubs that are interested in applying for a grant should visit the Grow the Game section of the Foundation’s website, or speak to East Riding County FA to find out more information.”

Graham Turner, East Riding FA County Development Manager, said: “Grow the Game has already made a big difference to our clubs over recent years with in excess of £200K awarded to local Clubs to develop new teams over the past 5 years. This further investment will allow us to work closely with Clubs looking to develop teams in challenging areas such as the 16-21 year age group”

Funded by the Premier League, The FA, and the Government, via Sport England, the Football Foundation is the country’s largest sports charity. Since it was launched in 2000, the Foundation has awarded around 9,600 grants worth more than £412m towards improving grassroots sport, which it has used to attract additional partnership funding of over £565m.

The application window is open from Monday 6 January, and any Clubs that are interested in applying for a grant should visit http://www.footballfoundation.org.uk/funding-schemes/grow-the-game/ or contact Tom Lee (01482 221158) for further information.