WHITEHAVEN Amateurs Football Club will be opening its new £516,000 3G pitch and showcasing the FA Cup at an all-day event held on Saturday, September 3.

The launch will also see a children's mini-tournament, a coaches and parents charity football match, as well as bubble football and an obstacle course.

Open from 10am, the event will see the FA Cup arrive, with security, at the Amateurs' ground around 11am.

The pitch, financed by the Premier League and The FA Facilities Fund (£448,954) and the Copeland Community Fund (£57,687), has enabled the club to provide a top quality football hub.

Whitehaven Amateurs has worked in close partnership with the Football Foundation and Cumberland FA to develop a five-year football development plan (FDP) – a long term vision for how sport will be played at the new facility – which will also aim to establish three new female teams for Whitehaven AFC and increase participation by 70 per cent.

The new pitch has been installed by SIS of Maryport.

Speaking previously, Bill Robson from Whitehaven Amateurs Football Club, said: “The upgrading of our 3G pitch is a major but very necessary, undertaking for our club to ensure sporting provision well into the future.''

Since 2000, the Football Foundation Funding Partners’ investment has provided 46 grants worth nearly £4m towards grassroots sports projects worth over £6m across the whole of Cumberland.

Founded in 2000, the Football Foundation is the largest sports charity in the UK funded by the Premier League, The FA and Government, via Sport England.