Nominate a young sportsperson for Ron Harrod Foundation funding
Harrod Sport are looking for a local athlete to sponsor in 2025 now!
Find out more
Competing can be expensive, even at a local or regional level. Equipment can be expensive, and that's even before hotels and travel! For this reason, many talented young athletes have to give up their dreams of competing, of pushing themselves to see what they can achieve.
Harrod Sport is in a position to help.
The Ron Harrod Foundation
The Ron Harrod Foundation, established by Harrod Sport in 2018, is dedicated to helping young sportsmen and women in the East of England reach their full potential. Each year, we provide up to £5,000 in funding to exceptional athletes under the age of 25, covering essential costs like equipment, training, travel, and accommodation. Our support has helped young talent achieve incredible results, turning dreams into reality.
We welcome nominations from all including previous nominees and those who may have been unsuccessful in the preceding years. These nominations will be assessed by a panel of judges, which in the past has included local sporting heroes such as Anthony Ogogo, Dean Ashton and Natasha Thomas. After careful deliberation the lucky athletes will be notified of the amount being awarded and we then look forward to hearing about all the updates and successes they achieve across the year.
If you would like to read more about our Founder Ron Harrod and how he made Harrod Sport into the market leader for sports goals and equipment, head to the bottom of this page.
APPLICATIONS FOR 2025
The applications for 2025 are now open. Entries close on 1st May 2025 with lucky recipients being notified shortly after.
Who is Ron Harrod?
Harrod UK began when founder Ron Harrod invested just £300 and started to convert old herring nets into garden netting in a factory in Lowestoft, using skills traditionally associated with Lowestoft's fishing industry.
The year of 1954 ended with a successful £5,000 turnover and Harrod UK Ltd was established in a 30ft by 10ft workshop in Horn Hill, Lowestoft.
1976 saw the company expanding, securing additional factory space at the site before building its own factory in Pinbush Road in 1979. The office followed, moving shortly after.
Throughout his career, Ron Harrod had always been a pioneer in goal post safety and became a co-founding member of the CEN Committee in 1989.
Following in that tradition, his son Chris Harrod currently represents the U.K. on the European Standards Committee for goal post safety.
Ron Harrod retired in 2005, but his children – Chris and Stephanie Harrod – ensure his legacy lives on, both in a business sense and with the ethos Ron maintained throughout the years that the "customer is king". Sadly, Ron passed away on 29 December 2020, and is hugely missed by the Harrod team.
In 2017 the company changed its name to Harrod Sport as it ventured further into international markets.
Today, Harrod Sport is recognised as the market leader in the sports industry and boasts a multi-million-pound turnover with a 140-strong workforce. This has all been made possible because of Ron's entrepreneurial determination and winning spirit.