Falkirk Fury cock-a-hoop at landing funding of £100,000-plus

The lion’s share of that six-figure boost – £80,000 – came from Avondale Environmental, with Sportscotland’s third-sector resilience fund chipping in £10,000 and the Robertson Trust £8,500 and Foundation Scotland adding a further £2,000 and convenience store chain Nisa’s Making a Difference Locally kitty £1,500.

The money being put up by Falkirk waste treatment firm Avondale Environmental, part of the Glasgow-based NPL Group, via the Scottish Landfill Communities Fund will be spent on much improving Fury’s training facilities by buying new equipment and developing a plan to create their own such site.

It will also help pay for an initiative working with 20 primary schools in and around Falkirk to encourage interest in the basketball by providing equipment and coaching.

The Robertson Trust funding will ensure the continued development of Fury's programme of opportunities and pathways for players and work in the community to promote participation in the sport.

The Scottish Government’s resilience fund has helped Fury afford to maintain access to players despite the coronavirus pandemic putting paid to sponsorship deals and other normal revenue streams such as ticket money.

Nisa’s donation is funding further partnership with primary schools and staging competitions for under-12s.

Foundation Scotland’s funding has been spent on outdoor basketball boards to enable players to carry on training despite not having been allowed to do so indoors.

Fury head coach John Bunyan said: “These awards are amazing.

“They are the result of a fair amount of work from several of us on Fury's committee, but that work was absolutely worth it as the grants mean so much to the continued development of our club and, of course, not just to our current players but all the players we will be reaching out to in the future at schools, camps and other situations at this difficult time.

“Never before has there been more of a need to engage young people, and what better way to improve physical and mental health than by playing and taking part in sport?

“All the funders have been impressed with the work we have done in the community for now 30 years, the partners we work with, such as Active Schools, to deliver our programmes and, of course, the really positive impact on the huge amount of players in our programmes.”

Fury are now getting ready for the 2021-22 season and will be putting triallists through their paces in July.

They’ll also be staging a series of daytime and residential club camps this summer and increasing the amount of coaching sessions they hold in the run-up to that.

On top of that, many players and parents having signed up over the past year for table official and coaching courses.

A new training and kit deal has also been agreed with Grangemouth-based RJM Sports.