UK pub chain and brewery, Greene King, have pledged at least £250,000 to women's sport following the success of the Lionesses at the 2023 Women's World Cup and as part of their continued efforts to back grassroots sports.
Greene King has been helping support women's football specifically for some time now, having committed to airing as many Women's Super League (WSL) games as they can since last year and holding talks with inspirational female sporting figures.
Now, though, as part of their Proud to Pitch In scheme — an initiative that directly impacts grassroots sports including 10p from every pint of Greene King IPA sold going towards local clubs, sports centres, equipment and so on — the chain is doubling down on their support. Quite literally.
After already providing over £126,000 in funds to women's sports groups across the UK since the scheme launched nearly two years ago, CEO Nick Mackenzie has now pledged to double that amount in an effort to continue the growth of women's sport and grassroots support across the nation.
According to research carried out as part of Proud to Pitch In, Greene King found that the average age women stop taking part in group sports is around 16, with a lack of female clubs in communities sadly playing a big part in that statistics.
As per The Manc, the study which polled 2,000 UK women revealed that other key reasons for ditching group sports include the poor quality of local facilities, as well as a lack of interest from friends.
However, the inspiring success of the Lionesses at the Euros and, most recently the World Cup, has led to a massive boost when it comes to interest in women’s sports, with over a quarter surveyed (26%) saying they felt the success of the team had inspired them to take part in more sporting activity.
As Mackenzie himself put it: "The England team over the last year has changed women’s sport for good. We’ve seen a massive increase in support from our customers right across the UK as pubgoers flocked to their local to cheer on the team, and we’ve also seen a major uplift in women’s clubs applying for fundraising grants. It is vital we continue to build on that momentum.
Greene King IPA's Head of Marketing, Emma Hibbert, also detailed how "Proud to Pitch In provides grassroots clubs with grants of up to £4,000 to help with whatever their club needs to succeed, and the best thing is it’s open to any over-18 clubs, regardless of the sport...
"To date we’ve provided funding for some incredible projects so far, from rowing clubs to cricket teams and football clubs, and so far, we’ve given over £500,000 in grants to over 200 clubs, including men’s sport, women’s sport, and mixed clubs."
Quality stuff. If you know a local women's club or sports facility that could do with some extra support, you can apply for funding Proud to Pitch In funding HERE.
As for the Lionesses, the legacy they are leaving behind is truly huge and while they may not have lifted the World Cup this year, their influence secured another big win for women's football and female representation across sport in general last week:
https://thehootleeds.com/tag/womens-world-cup/
Featured Image — Jason Bye/The Manc Group/Lionesses
Business
The Yorkshire designer who’s put together the official FIFA World Cup scarf collection
A Yorkshire-born and bred artist and his creative team have earned the huge honour of creating the official FIFA scarf collection for this year's World Cup.
Nothing short of massive for anyone from our part of the world.
The local legend in question is Tom Pitts, who was born in Sheffield and is now based just beyond Leeds, leading the campaign right from the helm.
Hand Drawn Pixels is a graphic design and digital studio based in Otley, and while you'll see plenty of folks wearing football shirts and even the odd scarf on the town's famous pub crawl, these lot are venturing on an entirely different kind of run this summer.
In fact, the work has very much already started, with Tom and co. collaborating directly with FIFA and US manufacturers, Global Scarves, to create the World Cup collection.
With this year's tournament obviously taking place across America, Mexico and Canada, they've joined up with a big LLC, but they describe themselves as "a true English custom scarf company with American parents."
In their words, "We knit scarves for clients all over the world", with a presence both near Leeds and over in Seattle, Washington.
The fixtures themselves kick off next month (England's first game coming against Croatia on 17 June), and so Hand Drawn Pixels have been hard at work meeting the briefs for each of the nations taking part.
Here's a quick breakdown of how the opportunity came about, their vision for the project, and how everything starts for them as a whole process.
You can see more of their work HERE, but as the brand name would suggest, it's pretty simple to begin with: nothing more than a pencil.
It's worth noting that the 2026 World Cup also featured the largest number of teams in the competition's history: 48 qualified national squads, to be exact. So, technically, they've had even more designing to do than they theoretically would have in any of the previous years, too.
Tom confessed that winning this bid is obviously a big deal on its own and that seeing his creations being worn in person by supporters at the stadiums will be a "surreal" experience.
Speaking exclusively with The Hoot, he said: "It’s been an amazing creative challenge for us to truly reflect the individuality and diversity of the nations competing in this prestigious tournament on such an iconic product as the football scarf."
He went on to add that "the whole project has been a huge learning experience, gaining deeper cultural insight into every nation involved."
We can't wait to cast eyes upon a sea of colour and finely crafted fabric in unique but somehow universally familiar patterns, all designed right here in 'God's Own Country'.
Leeds city centre set for hundreds of new flats after council agrees sale of ‘prime’ development site
Clementine Hall
It looks like even more new flats could be popping up in Leeds city centre.
The land in question is located near Leeds' Aire Park development, next to The Adelphi Pub in a prime location smack bang in the city centre.
It's looking like over 240 flats could be built on the site after the council has agreed to sell the coveted plot of land to a housing developer.
The current land that is surrounded by heritage assets has been sold by Leeds City Council to property developer Glenbrook.
A planning application from Glenbrook proposed mostly 246 one and two bedroom apartments in a whopping 24 storey development.
Around 20% of the homes would be classified as affordable housing, being rented out at 80% of the current private market rate.
The application will be discussed when the council's City Plans Panel meets next Thursday 14 May.
A council planning officer’s report said: “The emerging proposals present a significant opportunity to regenerate a prominent vacant brownfield site within the city centre.
“The development would deliver a substantial number of new homes, alongside the provision of some employment opportunities.”
A council decision report when selling the plot back in 2022 said: “It is surrounded by heritage assets in an area undergoing rapid regeneration and is widely considered to be a prime plot capable of supporting a high quality residential development.”
Well then Leeds, what do you make of these plans then?
Danny Jones -
29th August 2023 
