Carlisle United has long been identified as the people’s club. Community work is never too much. People need help after their houses are decimated by floods? Carlisle United are there. As a one-city club, and as most would say, even Barrow fans, a one-county club, there lies a responsibility. The relationship is intrinsic: a football club needs its community and a community needs its football club.
The club’s latest project sets to continue this trend of the club giving back to the community. Since American investment arrived in late 2023 in the form of the Piatak family, there has been a vision for a dedicated training facility.
This project is an ideal solution to several problems for both the club and the city.
The first team and the academy have long craved a dedicated training facility. Constant upheaval, marked by trips to Gretna and Penrith weekly to train, pinpointed a need for a facility.
Here’s Jon Colman’s thoughts on the facility:
As Jon alludes to here, this project straddles two very large interests of the club: improvement on the pitch and maintaining a community presence.
How will this facility impact the community?
The facility has been publicly stated by the Piatak’s as being ‘shared-use’. This means that the club will be able to lend pitches to community teams, as well as allowing the first team and academy to utilise the facilities.
If anybody has ever played in any of the Carlisle youth leagues, you will know the struggle of getting games on and playing on sub-par pitches. Not only is it harmful for the young kids who want to express themselves and spend time with their friends, but it is also having a huge impact on the academy.
These youngsters in the youth leagues are Carlisle’s academy catchment. The club needs to be harnessing and giving these young kids the best possible quality of pitch to play on.
Here is what owner, Tom Piatak II, has to say about the training ground’s desired impact on the community:
I then spoke to former Abbeytown under 13s coach, Callum Reveley, to get his insight on how the proposed training ground will shape up to impact the community.
Callum stated that, “The state of facilities for junior grassroots football can often be mixed and sometimes goes unnoticed despite the fact that the impact on the development of young players can be significant. Many grassroots clubs lack funding for the state of the art facilities, this means that the player experience and quality are being hindered.”
As Callum addresses here, the lack of funding for adequate facilities coupled with the overuse of pitches in city centres such as Carlisle, massively affects the community football being played.
I can vividly recall playing on pitches in Carlisle when I was around the age of 10, that were bare of all grass and could feasibly double as sand pits. Then there was the other extreme whereby rain, (which is pretty common in Cumbria), caused a halt to matches.
Callum recalls from his time coaching Abbeytown that, “the difference in facilities was evident in quality of play produced from players playing games. Those who were better funded as a club were usually nearer to the top of the leagues. These clubs had access to facilities such as the Sheepmount or Caldew school and even astroturf and halls for the winter. The impact a facility has on youth leagues is huge.”
These conditions and these pitches hugely affect development and highlight the reason as to why top class youth talent coming through Carlisle’s academy has been so sparse over the last decade, barring the emergence of Jarrad Branthwaite.
“The facility being produced in Carlisle will not only improve youth development around the city but also lay a foundation for grassroots football to excel over the coming years”
Callum reveley, former Abbeytown coach
As shown above by the quality of the grass at the Sheepmount even when the football season is off, the community aspect of the facility is vital.
By allowing and endorsing the community clubs in the local area to use the new ‘state of the art’ facilities, the club are making huge leaps towards laying the foundations for fruitful academy crops in years to come.
In an interview with the club’s official media channel, Tom Piatak Snr, stated that, “If people see the vision of what we’re looking at building which is a dome so we can train whatever the weather, a floodlit 4G pitch, two pitches for the first team and then some 60×40 pitches as well. It’s going to be a phenomenal facility and we think it will make a significant impact on the community.”
These 60×40 pitches outlined by Piatak will undoubtedly prove vital in allowing Carlisle’s wealth of youth leagues to use these pitches. These comments are indicative of the true community spirit that the Piatak’s are continuing to push through the work they are doing.
“We believe the training facility can be a beacon of light for the community.”
Tom PiAtak SNR, Carlisle united owner
As Jon alludes to here and the Piatak have previously, this project is going to be a ‘beacon of the community’. This highlights exactly the impact of said facility and just how the Piatak’s envision the facility impacting the area.
The overwhelming feeling surrounding the facility is that it is putting the ‘C’ in community into the ‘C’ in Carlisle United.
Check out the TikTok below to gain further insight into the story behind club’s proposed training facility