Play-time for the children at a school in Haringey will be better thanks to a new all-weather 3G pitch that will benefit the whole community in the north London borough.
"Last time we had concrete and everyone used to hurt themselves," said Karrell, a pupil at Seven Sisters Primary School.
Named the Ugo Ehiogu Pitch in memory of the late Tottenham Hotspur Under-23 coach, the facility was made possible thanks to investment from the Premier League, The FA and the Government through the Football Foundation.
Funds were also raised by the school itself plus Side-On, the foundation created in honour of Ehiogu, who suffered a fatal cardiac arrest in April 2017.
"Ugo was one of my coaches and I have some great memories of him," says Spurs defender Kyle Walker-Peters, a special guest at the official opening. "He helped me a lot with my progress into the first team.
"The kids are absolutely buzzing. I’m sure they will be using it all year round. Rain, sun, snow I think they’ll be on there as I would have been!"
Emma Murray, Head Teacher at Seven Sisters, said the pitch was desperately needed.
"The children in this community are either living in flats or in houses with very tiny back yards and going to the park is really a 'no go'," she said.
Positive outlook
"The more physical activity we can give them at school and the more opportunities we can offer to use a facility like this, the better it’s going to be for them."
It won't be just the school using the pitch, whose floodlights will enable it to be a top-class facility for the local community all year round.
"To have something like this where we are, sitting in Tottenham, in the heart of a community, is a marvellous opportunity," said Richard Allicock, Tottenham Hotspur Foundation’s Community Development Manager.
"Now we’re going to be delivering our Premier League Kicks programme this can hopefully be a positive thing for the future."
Gemma Ehiogu, Ugo's widow, said the former Aston Villa and England defender, would be proud to see the pitch.
"He felt passionately about helping young people to have the availability to do sports because he grew up in a similar sort of area," she said.
"For the legacy to live on, for his spirit to still be alive and to use his name in any way that we can to help is mind-blowing."
