Shearer and Souness support Flutter’s £500,000 Cash4Clubs

Grassroots sports clubs across the UK are being invited to apply for a share of £500,000 in funding through Flutter Entertainment’s Cash4Clubs initiative. UK Football legends Alan Shearer and Graeme Souness are supporting this year’s initiative, which is delivered by Sported UK. Flutter’s programme will provide £2,000 grants to successful applicants, while five clubs will receive larger awards of £10,000 aimed at supporting more significant projects. The funding is designed to help community clubs attract new members, purchase equipment and increase participation in sport and physical activity amid rising costs and demand for affordable activities. “Seeing what this grant meant to Newcastle Panthers puts it all into perspective,” said Shearer, who presented the Panthers’ LGBTQIA+ football team with an award earlier this year. “It’s helped so many members of our local community, both directly through the club and indirectly in the wider area through the positive message they share. I would encourage any neighbourhood club to apply for this grant.” Applications for the Flutter’s 2026 Cash4Clubs grants open on 1 October, with the programme once again focused on adult participation. Previous recipients have represented up to 100 different sports, while the 2026 funding will target clubs using sport to address wider social issues including mental health challenges, rural isolation and economic deprivation. Cash4Clubs has distributed more than £7m to community sport across the UK and Ireland since launching in 2008, including £1.3m to 640 clubs since 2024. Souness – who took over a training session for another winner, Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare FC in Midlothian, earlier this year – added: “Never underestimate the difference a small grant can make to the survival of a grassroots club or local community group. “Earlier this year, I visited Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare FC to surprise them at training with the news that they’d received a Cash4Clubs grant. Since then, they’ve battled back from financial hardship and the threat of relegation.” Flutter remains supportive to charitable causes The invitation comes as the latest Flutter initiative and follows the NYSE-listed, Sky Bet, Paddy Power and Betfair owner increasing its annual funding to the Leeds Rhinos Foundation from £25,000 to £36,000. Flutter’s Sky Bet sponsors the English Football League and uses that visibility to promote the British Heart Foundation and has also used its Paddy Power sponsorship of the PDC World Darts Championship to raise awareness of prostate cancer.