England and Tottenham FC striker Harry Kane returned to his roots to open a new pitch for local teams built with funds from the Premier League.
Last season’s Golden Boot winner went to the Peter May Sports Centre in Walthamstow, east London, named after the England cricketer, to open a new £578,000 floodlit 3G artificial grass pitch.
Kane learned to play on the site as did another England footballer, David Beckham. Other notable sporting careers started at the centre include Kane’s former Spurs team-mate Andros Townsend, who missed out on making Roy Hodgson’s final 23 for the Euro 2016 tournament; and England and Essex cricketer Ravi Bopara.
The new facilities, installed by SIS Pitches and Dawn Fencing using Duo8 Super Rebound sports fencing from Zaun, replace a sand-filled pitch, which could not cope with the high demand from local clubs.
Many amateur teams will call the new facility home, including Beckham and Kane’s old club, Ridgeway Rovers, while Colchester United and Leyton Orient will be able to help the women’s game and people with disabilities. Over the next five years, it is expected that the number of teams at each of those clubs will increase by 40pc.
Kane joined the local 16 to 18 year olds in an impromptu keepy-up session at the opening, which was also attended by Peter May’s widow Virginia, who said: “The new pitch is absolutely wonderful and I was thrilled to officially open it with Harry.”
He said: “It looks fantastic; I wish we’d had this when I was playing down here. I learnt my football trade in this part of the world, so I know how much this new pitch will mean to the local community. This facility will inspire more people to get involved in sport and in doing so will create quality, home-grown talent and increase participation levels in football.”
