East Fife FC could be playing on a plastic pitch from as early as next season, after campaigners won a bid for funding.
Fifers For The Community (FFTC) has been awarded £350,000 by Fife Council. Local councillors backed its proposal over a rival bid by Levenmouth Sports Village for a 3G pitch at King George V Park in Leven.
While the Fifa-approved surface at New Bayview will be for community use, the League Two side will use it for home matches and training.
FFTC said it is delighted that the Levenmouth area committee voted by four votes to three to give it the money.
However, Levenmouth Sports Village is bitterly disappointed by the decision and accused councillors of a lack of ambition and a “reckless disregard” for the financial risk to public money.
The decision followed an intense grilling of FFTC members by councillor David Alexander, who backed the other bid.
He expressed concerns about the group’s links with East Fife, its financial arrangements and the amount of time the community would be able to use the pitch.
FFTC will have to lease the land from the Bayview club, which, in turn, will pay the group to hire time on the pitch.
“Who owns East Fife?” Mr Alexander said. “If East Fife goes into administration, everything falls apart.”
He added that the football club and associated groups would take up 40% of the pitch’s usage.
Allan Duthie from FFTC moved to assure the committee the charity was separate from the club and had approval from charity watchdog OSCR.
“The land will be available as long as East Fife is available,” he said.
“There’s no reason to think East Fife won’t be around in 15 or 20 years.”
Councillors who backed the group’s bid praised the links with East Fife, saying the fact the club was guaranteed to use the pitch made the project more sustainable.
Mr Duthie said the funding award was just the start of the project.
“We’re very pleased with the outcome,” he said. “We now need to decide if we can get everything in place to start relaying the pitch by May so it’s in place for the start of the season in July.”
Councillor Ally Hunter, who represented Levenmouth Sports Village, said: “Four councillors voted against a plan that contained access to more sports, more participation, more value for money, more capacity, more external investment in Levenmouth and more community involvement than the other bid, with a significantly lower financial long-term risk.”