Last night the Lancashire FA brought together the grassroots football community across the county to celebrate remarkable collective and individual accolades.

Coaches, referees, clubs and leagues were all represented on the night at Ewood Park to mark a special night in Lancashire’s grassroots football calendar. 

Winners and runners-up from 14 different categories, including Spirit of Grassroots and Rising Star of the Year were announced, including two awards created by the Lancashire FA in special recognition of outstanding efforts in two particular areas of our work: the Inclusion Award and Outstanding Contribution to Women’s and Girls Football.

We had the pleasure of being joined by former England internationals Rachel Brown-Finnis, Jan Mayer and Lou Cafferkey who presented the Women’s and Girls Football award, but not before we quizzed Rachel on how proud she was of this year’s European Championship winning Lionesses.

We were also thrilled to have BBC Radio Lancashire’s Andy Bayes, former Scotland and Blackburn Rovers forward Kevin Gallagher, former Turf Moor cult hero Roger Eli, former England and Blackpool striker Brett Ormerod and Barrow AFC manager Pete Wild with us to present our finalists with their well-deserved awards.

Not only did we have an amazing awards ceremony to recognise incredible accomplishments, but experienced hospitality service Ewood Experience partnered with us to officially sponsor our Drinks Reception which went down a treat and they put on a mouth-watering menu for our guests and catered to all dietary requirements.

And to top it off Lancashire FA also hosted a raffle where guests could win an official Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup Football and t-shirt to raise money for the White Ribbon Campaign which aims to change attitudes and raise awareness of domestic abuse.

We raised a massive £437 thanks to the amazing generosity of our guests, and all proceeds have gone to the White Ribbon Campaign.

Ourselves and our community resilience partner Progress Housing Group along with their charity Key Unlocking Futures came together to support the campaign ahead of today’s White Ribbon Day which provides a high-profile opportunity to encourage men and the wider community to support #TheGoal of ending gender-based violence.

Thank you to everyone who attended the awards, we hope you had a really great night.

For a full list of our winners and runners-up, click here.