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DERBYSHIRE club Ilkeston have started work a £631,000 development of new changing rooms at their ground at The Stute.

Ilkeston, who play in Midlands Three East (North) have secured a £75,000 from the RFU, a further £6,000 from the Rugby Football Foundation charitable trust and £225,000 from the National Sports Foundation towards the cost of the scheme. They have raised the remaining money themselves.

The old wooden changing rooms at The Stute were built in 1934 as part of the facilities provided by Stanton Iron Works for their Sports and Social Club.

The grounds along with the clubhouse were bought by Ilkeston in 1998 when they moved from the Erewash Borough Council-owned Gallows Inn playing fields.

The old changing block consisted of one large and four small four changing rooms, together with an officials’ changing rooms in the attic.

The building originally had a single bath for players and was used in the filming of the BBC television series ‘Playing the Field’ about a ladies soccer team filmed at the Stute from 1998 for five series and which used both the clubhouse and changing rooms. In 2003 the baths were removed and changed to a shower area by club members.

The facility is multi-sport complex and is also used by cricket, bowls, tennis and ladies football sections. The rugby club currently runs three regular senior teams and a vibrant junior section from under-7 to Colts.

Past ground improvements have included the reclamation of both a junior and senior pitches, the former being achieved with the help of a Sport England grant. A further three acres of scrubland exist for future development into junior pitches as the numbers now stretch the existing capacity to the maximum.

The funding application started in the summer of 2005 and was finalised last autumn with the demolition completed before Christmas. Construction work on the new changing rooms began in January.

The Rugby Football Foundation is a Charitable Trust established by the Rugby Football Union. The purpose of the Rugby Football Foundation is to promote and develop community amateur rugby in England.


The Foundation is responsible for a substantial community rugby programme which includes the provision of rugby development officers, the training and development of referees and the production of coaching and technical material.


The Foundation also administers a Capital Fund for the financing of capital projects aimed at improving facilities which lead to the recruitment and retention of rugby players.

The NSF, funded by Sport England, is a Government-led initiative designed to facilitate and encourage partnerships between private investors and community sports projects in England. This is done by matching new and additional private investment with Foundation funding, on a pound for pound basis.

Sport England is a non-departmental public body and National Lottery distributor. It is committed to creating a world-leading community sports development system and increasing participation in sport. Sport England’s annual budget (lottery and exchequer) is c£250m.

Thomas Godfrey, Sport England’s Commercial Director, said: “These outstanding new facilities will provide a huge boost for rugby union in the area, helping people of all ages get involved in sport. It shows how Sport England funding, through the National Sports Foundation, is helping revitalise community facilities and give sports clubs the support they need. Initiatives like this are vital if we are to achieve our ambition of getting one million people doing more sport by 2012.”

(Source: RFU)