Match marks opening of £644,000 Dudley football pitch

The beautiful game is looking better than ever after the opening of a new £640,000 artificial football pitch at Dudley's Dell Stadium.

By Dayna Farrington

Published May 12, 2018

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Jody Craddock, Mayor Dave Tyler and Pete Thompson (front) with Wolves players Paul Jones, Colin Taylor, Mel Eves, Nigel Quasie and Shane Taylor

The new state-of-the-art floodlit 3G artificial pitch was officially opened by the Mayor of Dudley on Wednesday.

The official opening also included a football match on the new pitch between Wolves All Stars and Dudley Town FC – headed up by Jody Craddock and Pete Thompson respectively.

Dudley Mayor, Councillor Dave Tyler, said: "It is a state-of-the-art pitch – and it is perfect to play on. The players thought it was a really good game – it was great to see them play the first game on the pitch.

"It is thanks to those players and the people who came out to watch the match. You can see the pitch is going to be well used, with bookings being made already.

At the front are captains: Jody Craddock and Dudley's: Pete Thompson. Then at the back is Mayor: Dave Tyler and Wolves players: Paul Jones, Colin Taylor, Mel Eves, Nigel Quasie and Shane Taylor

"What I would like to see is more pitches like this around the borough."

The new pitch has cost around £644,000 – made up of £543,927 funding from the Premier League and the FA Facilities Fund, which is delivered by the Football Foundation, and £100,000 from Dudley Council.

The investment is in addition to the council's commitment to invest £24.5 million in the wider leisure services in the Dudley borough – which also includes plans for a new leisure centre in Dudley, as well as refurbishing and modernising the existing leisure centres in Halesowen and Stourbridge.

Anyone wanting to book the pitch can email area manager Steve Gay at steve.gay@dudley.gov.uk.