Last week, participants, coaches, teachers, club charities and stakeholders came together in Westminster to celebrate the 15-year anniversary of the Premier League's official charity, the Premier League Foundation.
One of the special guests in attendance was Lisa Nandy, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
As MP for Wigan since 2010, Nandy has forged close links with her local football club, Wigan Athletic, and has seen at first hand how its charitable arm, the Wigan Athletic Community Trust, is being funded by the Foundation to make a positive impact on the lives of her constituents.
This is what the work of the Premier League Foundation means to her.
"I couldn't pass up the opportunity to celebrate with the people who've helped to make the last 15 years of these amazing programmes an enormous success.
"Don't take my word for it. Take the word of the incredible young people who've been through these programmes, who have gone on to do some amazing things and become role models for the young people who come after them.
"It's personal for me because in my town we've been the beneficiaries of the Premier League's vision and foresight to invest in that generation of young people. I've seen for myself the difference that it makes.
"During the pandemic, I remember meeting via Zoom with a group of girls who were on the Premier League Kicks programme.
"I watched the way they were growing in confidence and resilience and the possibilities of the lives that they could lead opening up in front of them.
"That is the power of sport; to reach places that governments and agencies can't, to reach out and hold on to young people when they most need it, to open up those opportunities, to inspire them to go on and live richer, larger lives.
"Not every child in this country is going to go on and play for a Premier League club or for their country but every child in this country has a dream and every child in this country deserves a chance and that really is the ethos behind the work that the Premier League is leading.
"It's the Premier League in particular, that makes such a big difference.
"Most children in this country grow up watching football. They grow up with something really, really precious because through the Premier League our footballers, young people from across the country, towns like Wigan, Bury and Barnsley, go on to light up the world through the brilliance and the joy that they bring to millions and millions of people.
"The Premier League is a global success story but it's more than that. The Premier League believes in people and it believes in the power of people to make a difference and to make a change.
"Since we've been in government over the last 18 months, it has been a genuine pleasure to work with so many of you to help inspire a whole new generation to live the lives that they want to lead.
"There's one very personal thing about the difference that the Premier League has made.
"Coming from a sporting town like Wigan where rugby league, football and wrestling is part of our DNA and the glue that holds our town together especially in times like this, where at times it feels that we've lost the ability to understand one another.
"When I look at the way in which the Premier League behaves in my town, the thing that most inspires me is watching children get that first opportunity to kick a football and the change that it produces.
"It's watching great footballers and rugby league players coming into schools like my little boy's and taking part in reading with the children or talking about the struggles that they have, and seeing the magic of that connection for young people who suddenly think, 'these people that I look up to, they're just like me and they have struggles just like me.'
"It breaks down the stigma and the barriers in a way that nobody else can.
"A few years ago, we were in real trouble in Wigan with our football club put into administration. It sent shockwaves through our town because Wigan Athletic is more than a football club, it's stood at the centre of our community for 100 years. It's part of our social fabric.
"We were faced with the prospect of losing it and it felt like nobody was there for us. But somebody was, actually, and it was the Premier League, because they didn't give up on us.
"We got relegated, we went down a league, but the Premier League was still there. Premier League Kicks continued, the investment continued, they hung on to us and we really appreciated it. We didn't forget it.
"That is the difference that these programmes make, it's not just the immediate difference they make to all of us in the time that they're running, but that we'll pay it forwards.
"I just want to say an enormous and very heartfelt thank you from me personally, and from us as a government, for everything that has been achieved over the last 15 years, and everything that you'll continue to do."