Doncaster’s Yorkshire Main Sports and Social Club has opened Yorkshire’s first Cruyff Court thanks to funding from Sport England and the Cruyff Foundation.

The Edlington-based club, home to Yorkshire Main FC and Edlington White Stars JFC, hopes the new £145,000 all-weather multi-use games area will become a hub for the local community, encouraging more children and young people to play sport outdoors.

Following a four-year project, the Yorkshire Main Cruyff Court was officially opened at the end of January by Edlington Town Council’s mayor, Steve Reardon, and Deputy Mayor, Joan Briggs. The court will be available for local schools and community groups to use for free, as well as providing year-round training facilities for local clubs and the 15 adult and junior teams who currently play at the Edlington Lane site.

Pictured: Edlington Town Council Mayor Steve Reardon and Deputy Mayor Joan Briggs join guests and club volunteers to officially open the new Cruyff Court

Scheme Treasurer and Secretary of Edington White Stars JFC, Garry Mosely, who managed the project, said: “We’re excited to see the new Yorkshire Main Cruyff Court in action. It has replaced a twenty-year-old MUGA that hadn’t been used in a decade due to overhanging trees and a poor playing surface. 

“Behind the scenes, our trustees and members have worked on how this new facility can be utilised to best serve the local community and ensure that Yorkshire Main Miners Welfare becomes more sustainable in the future.”

Celebrated Ajax and Barcelona player, Johann Cruyff, founded the Cruyff Foundation in his native Netherlands in the late ‘90s to give children the opportunity to play and be active. Cruyff Courts sprung up across Europe, before coming to the UK in 2008. The main aim of a Cruyff Court is to provide a safe place where children and young people can interact with each other socially and develop healthier lifestyles.

The hi-tech, floodlit court will be used primarily for football, with five-a-side nets at either end. But it can also be utilised for other sports. The club has allocated six hours a week for community groups and schools to use the court free of charge, which will be on a first-come-first-served basis. Yorkshire Main FC manager, Paul Roidl, has developed an online booking system to manage the court.

The lion’s share of the funding, £85,000, came through Sport England who had ringfenced £3million to regenerate facilities in coalfield communities. Since the closure of Yorkshire Main colliery in 1985, the old pit site has been reclaimed for sports and social use. The club itself put £10,000 into the Cruyff Court project, with a further £50,000 awarded from the Cruyff Foundation.

Due to the Covid pandemic, plans were put on hold for two years. However, after a six-week build by Mansfield-based contractors, AS Sports Systems, the new Cruyff Court was finished before Christmas.

Garry says the club hopes to create an on-site café to run alongside the sports and social club, known locally as The Welly. He is also positive the new court will improve youth football participation by building stronger links with schools, developing a solid pathway from the under 18s to men’s first team, and introducing the Weetabix Wildcats programme to add girls’ football to their offer.

For more information on the Cruyff Court or for booking enquiries, please contact Paul Roidl at cruyffcourtyorkshire@gmail.com or call 01709 869460

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