SOUTHEND United fans are set to benefit from a brand-new community centre at Roots Hall after the club’s charity received a £17,200 grant.

The cash will enable the club’s charity, Southend United Community and Educational Trust (Southend United CET), to regenerate and develop an area of Roots Hall car park, known as Community Corner.

It is set to launch on Saturday, March 7, for Southend United’s match against Bristol Rovers.

The centre will be open on every home matchday from March 7 onwards, and will provide fans with a range of pre-match activities in the build-up to kick-off, such as live music, face painting and gaming.

Outside of matchdays, Southend United CET will also be launching new outreach sessions to educate children on the history of the club and encourage younger fans, particularly those from under-represented groups, to take advantage of the newfound opportunities available at Roots Hall.

Dale Spiby, chief executive offier of Southend United Community and Educational Trust, said: “We’re really grateful to the Football Foundation for funding Community Corner.

“It’s an innovative new approach to enhance the fans’ matchday experience.

“It would be great to see as many Southend United fans as possible at Community Corner before each home fixture. We’ll be engaging with local schools to inform them about Community Corner, handing out junior supporter packs containing key information about how to become a Southend United fan.”

There will also be several partner community organisations coming along to engage with fans from all generations.

The Premier League Fans Fund is a commitment from the Premier League to fund projects and organisations which improve the relationship between fans and their clubs, the way football supporters engage with each other and fans’ experience of the game.

Southend United CET implement community and education focused programmes and solutions.

The charity offers a number of services from sports lessons within schools to IT lessons for the elderly.

For more information on the charity, visit www.sufccommunity.co.uk.