AN OPEN day will spell out the benefits for Rosyth when the new sports hub opens at the Fleet Grounds later this year. 

Rosyth Football Club are hosting the community fun day this Sunday, in the hopes of forming a lasting relationship with the local area.

The aim is to have all the town’s teams based at the hub, which was bought from the Ministry of Defence by Fife Council and is being leased to the Rosyth Community Sports Partnership (RCSP). 

Sunday’s event is being run from 11am to 2pm by Rosyth FC along with McDonald’s and the SFA, at Recreation Park, Admiralty Road.

Kids can expect a day of fun and games and Russell Taylor, youth coordinator at Rosyth FC, said: “We hope the community day will help us build a relationship with the community and in the area as a whole.

“There’s going to be a football festival, inflatables, face painting and a bouncy castle. 

“We’re also going to give kids the chance to soak the coach, to beat the goalie and there’s also going to be a hardest shot competition. 

“We’re going to have a barbecue as well.”

He is looking forward to the opening of the transformed Fleet Grounds in November, after a three-phase development process. 

Last year, councillors backed a £400,000 investment to turn the site into an indoor and outdoor facility with: a new 3G artificial pitch, three full-size grass pitches, a seven-a-side pitch, floodlighting, refurbishment of the pavilion, access improvements and additional car parking in phase one of the plans.

Russell said: “It will be great to have all the Rosyth teams and age levels training in the same place and it will be excellent for the kids in the area. 

“A lot of them hang out at the skate park, so this will give them an alternative option and allow them to play football instead. 

“There are four primary schools in Rosyth and not one of them has a full-size football pitch. 

“One has a pitch but they don’t get good use out of it at all. The facility is not specifically for Rosyth, but the South West Fife Community as a whole. 

“It will be a good focal point for not just the kids, but for the West of Fife, and areas like Limekilns and Valleyfield where they don’t have quite the same level of facilities available to them.”

In November, Rosyth councillor Mike Shirkie told the Press: “It has been nearly three years since I first approached the MoD with regard to purchasing the Fleet Grounds with a view to establishing a community sports hub, a facility I felt was sorely needed in terms of physical activity, sport, a much-needed boost to community well-being and providing a feelgood factor for our people.”