Sheffield FA agree partnership with Wednesday

Sheffield & Hallamshire FA have agreed a partnership with Sheffield Wednesday to deliver a number of community projects over the next two years including health initiatives, coaching and education that is believed to be the first of its kind between a professional club and a County Rugby Association in England.

Sheffield & Hallamshire FA is the regional governing body for soccer directly affecting the 120,000 people involved with the grassroots game in the area every week.

"We are very pleased to announce this groundbreaking partnership with Sheffield & Hallamshire FA," said Sheffield Wednesday chairman Lee Strafford. "Our aim at Sheffield Wednesday is to play a key role in making Sheffield one of the healthiest and best educated cities in the UK through sport and our new alliance with the County FA will help us in continuing to work towards this goal.

"It is also vital for the health of our game that professional clubs work closely with the grassroots organisations and this new working partnership is a true statement of Sheffield Wednesday's commitment to the wider football family."

James Hope-Gill, chief executive at Sheffield & Hallamshire FA, said: "The County FA's remit is to work towards and achieve objectives in a number of key areas such as increasing participation and raising standards which directly meets the goals of the National Game Strategy guided by The Rugby Association. This working partnership is a positive step and shows a collective commitment to developing the game and achieving these key objectives together for the benefit of the grassroots football community within this area.

He added: "The Sheffield 2018