Premier League Chief Executive and Football Foundation trustee Richard Masters believes The Foundry will change thousands of lives for the better.
West Ham United’s award-winning Foundation headquarters in Beckton in the London Borough of Newham was officially opened by Vice-Chair Baroness Karren Brady following a multi-million pound redevelopment this week.
The Foundry will significantly increase the Club’s community footprint, enabling West Ham to reach more than 60,000 people each year via 35 dedicated programmes catering for all ages and backgrounds. Among those 35 are football and education programmes provided in partnership with the Premier League – Inspires, Kicks and Primary Stars – and Professional Footballers Association.
Masters, who has been the Premier League’s CEO since 2019, has long been impressed by West Ham’s community work.
“As part of my job, I do get to go around and see other hubs, and this one is amongst the best I have seen,” he told West Ham TV. “It’s absolutely fantastic.
“West Ham have made use of every inch of space here and you just know that over the next five to ten years, thousands of people are going to get a brilliant experience here. It’s going to change people’s lives.
“I know from experience, I’m a trustee of the Football Foundation as well, that when you put pitches down like this, and you invest in facilities like this, people will come and they’ll genuinely benefit from them.”
The Premier League partners with over 150 clubs across England, including West Ham, to use the power of football to inspire young people to reach their potential.
Premier League Primary Stars inspires children aged 5-11 to be active, look after their wellbeing and develop important life skills.
Premier League Inspires is a personal development programme predominantly delivered in secondary schools and pupil referral units to help 11-18 year olds grow their personal, social, employability and life-skills, through a series of regular face-to-face group sessions, mentoring, workshops and social-action projects.
Premier League Kicks creates opportunities for young people who are at risk of anti-social behaviour, youth violence and/or from high-need areas to regularly engage in football, sport, mentoring and personal development opportunities.
Masters explained: “We’re really proud to support a lot of collective programmes that over 150 clubs deliver, so it’s not just Premier League clubs that get funding from the Premier League and deliver essential programmes. It’s across the league. Having just been on the tour around The Foundry, there are a myriad of things going on in there, and some of them are Premier League programmes.
“So, there’ll be Premier League Kicks programmes here in the evenings with the floodlights on, Premier League Inspires, Premier League Primary Stars. The [delivery] team are rooted not just here, but around the entire community, and kids will receive educational benefits, health benefits, life skills benefits, and I’ve no doubt that lots of young people’s lives will be changed through those programmes, through the brilliant work the West Ham Foundation do.”
As a trustee of one of The Foundry’s Core Partners, the Football Foundation, Masters has closely followed the development of a hub that will support up to 4,000 community participants of all ages each week across education, employment, physical and mental health and social inclusion programmes and a brand-new enterprise zone, inspiring future business leaders.
“I’ve been a trustee of the Football Foundation now for over a year and the Football Foundation itself has been around for 25 years, and I think it’s about £1.3 billion that the Premier League, the Football Association and the Government have put into the Football Foundation, and that builds places to play in communities across the country,” he continued. “We’re standing on a Football Foundation-funded pitch, and the Football Foundation helped fund part of the extension across The Foundry building itself.
“We watched the [Player Pathway Under-12] girls play here, and the pitch is constantly in use, and there is no shortage of return investment in it, and it’s a brilliant thing. It’s one of the great things that the Football Foundation and the Premier League can point at – the growth of English football and all the money that’s come into it. It’s gone into great projects, and the Football Foundation is one of them.”
The Foundry will welcome thousands of participants from across London’s most diverse borough, Newham, and beyond, confirming West Ham United’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion for all. For Masters, its opening is a legacy that the Club can truly be proud of.
“If you think about West Ham United, you look at the connections with ownership who are from East London and the position the Club has developed in the community, I think The Foundry is a physical manifestation of that,” he observed. “There’s a central commitment to support the community, and now it’s a bricks and mortar, and I think that’s a lovely story to tell.
“The late David Gold’s family are here. It was nice to see them, and there’s an obvious connection between the family and The Foundry itself, so it’s an emotional day, as well as a fantastic day for the community, and I just think it’s all part of a really strong story of the tale you can tell about investment West Ham are making, not just on the pitch, but off it as well.”