Russell Martin Foundation – delivering a positive impact on the community

2023 has proved to be a great year for Russell Martin Foundation (RMF), the registered charity was recognised for the positive impact it is having on the local community.

Back in May, RMF was a finalist for ‘Best Football Community Scheme’ outside of the Premier League. This category included all 72 Football League Clubs as well as independent football charities similar to RMF. Last week this national recognition was followed up locally with RMF being awarded ‘Highly Recommended’ in the ‘Community Hero’ category at the Sussex Business Awards.

The organisation, which became a charity in 2017, was set up by current manager of Southampton Football Club, Russell Martin, who wanted to give something back to the community in which he grew up. However, what started out as delivering football at after school clubs and holiday camps in Brighton and Hove, has now grown beyond recognition as provision has now not only widened geographically, but also in range of provision.

One of the highlights for 2023 was the girls’ football tournament which took place in June with a record of over a thousand participants. This is estimated to be one of the biggest of its kind in the UK.

The football provided for the boys included fixtures against professional clubs with similar age groups as well participation in the Gothia Cup (Gothenburg) which is the world’s biggest community football tournament.

Another area of success this year has been the development of the pos-16 football programmes which are delivered at Varndean College and Shoreham Academy. The well-developed Varndean programme continues to perform well in national tournaments whilst the Shoreham programme, now in its second year, has grown significantly in number of students taking part.

In order for RMF to be sustainable, the charity has to rely on a range of income. This year we were delighted to receive support from the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) as recognition for the work we do in the local community. RMF currently employ four ex-professional footballers who help deliver our programmes.

However, perhaps not so well known is the alternative education provision that RMF delivers across Sussex called the Extra Time Project. This vital work is mainly based on helping 11—14 year olds cope with mainstream education. The 12 week programme hopes to identify what are often complex issues, and then offer appropriate support and solutions to the young children and their families.

The first centre for this project was set up in 2019 in Brighton but this year RMF has also been delivering in centres in Chichester, Crawley, Newhaven and Worthing. For this project RMF now works with pupils from over 40 secondary schools across Sussex with more planned for the future.

Founder Russell Martin, expressed his amazement at the success RMF has had in 2023, when he said: “The charity has grown way beyond what I imagined 6 years ago when it was first set up. And now to get local and national recognition through different award organisations shows the incredible impact we are having to help residents of Sussex. I am so proud of what we have done so far.”