Chorley Panthers Rugby League Football Club is building a new clubhouse to celebrate their 30th year after receiving £80,000 from RLWC2021’s CreatedBy legacy programme.

CreatedBy ambassador and England and Castleford Tigers player, Luke Gale visited the site of the new clubhouse - which is due to be completed in 10 weeks - following large grant funding from the RLWC2021’s CreatedBy Capital Grants programme.

Delivered in partnership between RLWC2021, the sport’s national governing body, the Rugby Football League, Sport England and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, the CreatedBy RLWC2021 programme is a funding pot of up to £10million made available by the government to support the legacy of the Rugby League World Cup by growing participation in the sport.    

As part of this funding, Chorley Panthers have been awarded a large-scale grant of £80,000 towards a project totalling £280,000. With this funding, as well as contributions from Sport England’s Community Asset Fund, the club has been able to build a brand-new clubhouse, relay pitches, install flood lights and spectator barriers.

In addition to this, the club now has a purpose-built changing room block containing a physio room and fully fitted gym.
The funding will have an immediate impact on the club and Alan Bowers, club chairman, said: “The journey to our new clubhouse started seven years ago with the initial renovations to the pitch and changing rooms.

"The cost of the new clubhouse was a lot higher than we first expected – the project would have been unachievable without the funding from the CreatedBy RLWC2021 programme – it would have taken us another 3-4 years to raise the funds as a club.

“Not only will the new clubhouse help us to attract new talent and provide brand new facilities for our existing players, it will have a massive impact on the well-being of the wider community.

"From Friday retirement club and toddler groups to family celebrations and sporting activities – the clubhouse will be a central hub for the whole community – we can’t wait to get the keys!”

Luke Gale, CreatedBy RLWC2021 ambassador and England player added: “There’s been an immediate positive impact at Chorley Panthers as a result of the building work and renovations.

"The work at Chorley represents what the grants are all about – giving our rugby talent across the UK access to the facilities and providing people with the facilities they need in order to enjoy the game of rugby league.

"I’d encourage any club in need of funding to apply for a grant and enjoy the benefits of what new facilities bring.”

Charles Johnston, Property Director at Sport England said: “We are delighted to see the Rugby League World Cup 2021 Legacy start to come into fruition with facilities like the new clubhouse at Chorley Panthers Rugby League Football Club.

"The partnership between RLWC 2021, the Rugby Football League, Sport England and government will see a significant increase in investment into grassroots Rugby League facilities.

 

"This has the potential to boost participation in Rugby League in communities all over the country.

"We look forward to seeing the benefits the new clubhouse at Chorley Panthers Rugby League Football Club will bring and hope to see the club go from strength to strength in the future.”

The Rugby League World Cup 2021 will kick off on 23 October 2021, with the men’s, women’s and wheelchair competitions taking place simultaneously, under one tournament banner for the first time. Clubs, organisations and communities that run rugby league activities are encouraged to apply for this legacy funding by visiting www.rlwc2021.com/facilities. For further information visit their official social media channels, on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.