Last month, Brentford FC Community Sports Trust Chief Executive, Lee Doyle, was recognised as our Community Captain following years of incredible work in the local area.

The Premier League is celebrating its 30th anniversary and to go with the many brilliant stories about what has happened on the pitch, there are a wealth of tales to be told of the incredible impact the Premier League and its clubs have had in their local communities since the competition started in 1992.

The Premier League trophy is being taken on a seven-week tour of England and Wales, visiting Premier League, EFL, non-League and women's clubs who have benefited from Premier League investment.

Clubs across the football pyramid will name a Community Captain, to honour one of the many people who have been a part of the Premier League's success and had a positive impact on the lives of people connected to their football club. During the stop at Brentford, Lee was honoured with the captain’s armband.

Lee was named Community Captain for his outstanding contribution to the Club and local area for more than 30 years. He is one of only 100 members of the public who will receive the award. A plaque engraved with Lee’s name was also added to the Premier League trophy plinth.

After receiving the award, Lee said: “I’m really proud, quite surprised as well but it was a nice surprise. I accept the award on behalf of everybody within the Community Trust. So much hard work has been put in over the years and that is on and off the pitch.”

Lee went on to explain some of the Trust’s key involvements across West London.

“I feel it’s massively important for clubs like us to do what we can to support local communities,” he said.

“We are involved with more than 100 schools in which our contribution is linked in with physical activity. On top of that, we run programmes on housing estates and areas that are deprived and in need of some coaching and we do this most nights of the year.

“There are a number of programmes that we are running to help the community, we support young carers who are looking after people at home, we also help children with disabilities and their families by organising activities to take some pressure off the people closest to them.”

The PL30 event was based around an Under 11s girls Premier League Primary Stars tournament featuring teams representing London clubs.

Club directors Preeti Shetty and Monique Choudhuri; Club ambassador, Marcus Gayle; and players from Brentford’s women teams were also on show at Gunnersbury Park Sports Hub in support of the celebration, which was held to highlight the Premier League’s funding of the Emerging Talent Centres (ETC) for young female footballers. These have been opened with the aim of enhancing the player development pathway available to them.

The Premier League have announced the investment of more than £5m into ETC over the next three years, and after recently being granted a license by the FA, Gunnersbury Park has become one of the latest sites developed to give girls in football a safe environment where they are able to progress.

Lee continued: “We have helped facilitate this at Gunnersbury Park, which is coming off the back of the legacy of the Lionesses’ triumph at EURO 2022 and is really the tip of the iceberg for events that we hold to support local people.

“We’ve worked with a number of partners to help regenerate the facilities here at Gunnersbury Park. The Ealing and Hounslow authorities began the process, and we came to give our support to allow for the best and safest environment for local people of all ages and genders to develop and take part in physical activity.”

Find out more about our award-winning Community Sports Trust.