Streatham-Croydon RFC. Pic: Facebook

Local sports clubs in Croydon have received a boost with the allocation of £95,000 in development funding from the Mayor of London’s Sports Legacy Fund. Streatham-Croydon rugby club will receive £70,000 to update its ageing facilities with St Paul’s Tennis Club and the Croydon Clockhouse also receiving funding.

At £95,000 in total, Croydon is receiving one of the biggest set of grants of any London borough thanks to Kate Hoey, former Minister for Sport, now dubbed the mayor’s ‘sports Tsarina’.

Head coach at Streatham-Croydon RFC, Jeff Greenleaf, sees the funding as an investment for the whole community. He said: “The redevelopment will allow for the whole community to use the facilities, whether it be for sports such as netball, basketball, archery, football, cricket and American football; or for fitness sessions, martial arts and yoga.

The club, based in Thornton Heath, plans to refurbish the changing rooms, showers and derelict squash courts and to erect a clubhouse, netball and basketball courts.

St Paul’s Tennis Club on Carlton Road, South Croydon will receive £6,652 to upgrade two hard courts while the council-operated Croydon Clocktower will receive just short of £18,000 to install and mark running routes around London.

The £15.5 million fund is part of a mayoral initiative to ensure that the Olympics’ leaves Londoners with a lasting sporting legacy.  Aiming to drive up sports participation by improving access and facilities, Hoey explains: “No host city has ever delivered a sustained increase in improving facilities and participation off the back of the Games. We want to ensure that London becomes the first.”

Boris Johnson seconds this sentiment, saying: “The 2012 Games will be the greatest sporting event ever held and I am determined that Londoners are inspired by the feats of endurance we are set to witness, to get fit and active.”