The New Croft Foundation Roundup 2025

This year, The New Croft Foundation has continued its mission to change lives through sport, education and opportunity. From grassroots participation to elite pathways, our focus has remained firmly on supporting young people, removing barriers, and creating meaningful experiences that extend far beyond the game.

At the heart of everything we do is creating positive experiences for young people. This year alone, we provided over 300 local children with the opportunity to play football through our weekly sessions and school holiday programmes. Many of these young people also progressed into club football with Haverhill Rovers Youth, while others enjoyed once-in-a-lifetime experiences competing in international tournaments, including trips to Italy and Las Vegas.

This year has also seen the continued growth and success of our Sporting Memories group, which has become a truly valued part of the Foundation’s work. Designed to support older members of our community through shared memories of sport, the group has provided a welcoming, social space that promotes wellbeing, connection and conversation.

Attendance has grown steadily throughout the year, and the positive impact on participants.

Alongside participation, we remain passionate about supporting pathways into employment. Throughout the year, we provided work experience opportunities for local college students aspiring to build careers in the sports industry. These placements offered hands-on experience across coaching, facility management and community engagement, helping young people develop real-world skills and confidence.

Accessibility has also been a key focus. In response to rising costs faced by families, we launched a new initiative to make our programmes more affordable and inclusive. This included offering 50% discounted subscriptions for siblings and for children attending more than one Foundation programme, ensuring that no child misses out due to financial pressure.

One of our standout achievements this year has been the launch of girls-only football sessions, led by former professional Arsenal player Yvonne Tracy. The programme has quickly become one of our most popular, providing girls with a safe, supportive and inspiring environment to learn, grow and enjoy the game. We are delighted to see so many young girls thrive through this initiative.

We also reached a major milestone for our academy, becoming an independent educational provider through a partnership with Juniper Sports. This means all academic learning and football development is now delivered entirely on-site at The New Croft in Haverhill, offering students a fully integrated education and performance pathway in one place.

Beyond football, we are proud to support talent across the wider sporting community. Over the past two years, we have become a leading sponsor of Ruby Grey, a talented young local darts player. Our support has gone beyond financial backing, focusing on accelerating her development through access, opportunity and exposure. Ruby recently competed at the World Championships at Lakeside, and with new partnerships on the horizon and exciting developments planned for her 2026 schedule, the year ahead is shaping up to be her biggest yet. We’re incredibly excited to continue following her journey.

None of this would be possible without the dedication of our hardworking staff and volunteers, who go above and beyond every day to support young people, families and the wider community. Their commitment, care and passion are the backbone of the Foundation.

We would also like to sincerely thank our partners and sponsors for their continued support, including Urban Network, Fleximize, Abbey Croft Leisure, Sporting Memories, Haverhill Electrical (sponsors of our Comets programme), and Stridex, who help bridge the gap between grassroots and academy football for local players. 

As a charity, we believe it’s important to be open about the challenges we face. Like many families and organisations, the ongoing cost-of-living pressures have made this year particularly tough, and sales for programmes and holiday camps have been more challenging than in previous years. The New Croft Foundation operates as a registered charity, working closely with The New Croft, a not-for-profit organisation. We are not supported by large financial backers, and every booking, donation, sponsorship and partnership directly supports the delivery of our programmes and the young people who take part in them.

As we close the year, we want to say thank you to everyone who has supported The New Croft Foundation, whether as a parent, partner, sponsor, volunteer, participant or supporter.

From all of us at The New Croft Foundation, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to welcoming you back in 2026 and continuing to create opportunities, inspire confidence and change lives through sport.