Everyone knows how good the Royals' home form has been in recent weeks, but we bet you didn't know that hundreds of goals have already been scored at Madejski Stadium this season!

We're talking about the indoor pitch in the Academy Training Centre on the stadium site. Often referred to as the Dome, it was opened in September 2002 as part of the Club's acceptance in the Academy system - each Club that operates an Academy is required to have an indoor training facility.

Although the Dome has been a very worthwhile addition for our young players in our Academy, who are able to train on an excellent playing surface throughout the year no matter how bad the weather is, the local community have also benefitted hugely from being able to use the facility.

Later this month we'll be kicking off our new Winter Seven-A-Side League, which will take place every Sunday evening on our high-quality 3G artificial grass 60x40m indoor pitch. Around 20 teams have already entered to contest the trophy won by 'The Chosen Ones' last season, so it should be another good league between now and April!

The cost of entering is £45 per team per game (45 minutes), which we know many players think is very reasonable for the chance to play on the best indoor playing surface in the area, and we're limiting the league to a maximum of 32 teams - if you'd like to enter, please contact us by the end of this week on 0118 968 1202 or thedome@readingfc.co.uk

The Dome is used by the Academy between 5-9pm every weekday during the season, so there is obviously very limited opportunity to hire the pitch out. But it is available at weekends, and we've also recently constructed a new floodlit outdoor grass pitch if you fancy braving the weather!

Royals' Chairman John Madejski regularly talks about his belief that a football club should be the focal point of its local community, and our Training Centre is a great example of how that can actually happen in practical terms.

As well as the Academy, our own leagues and private hires, the Dome is regularly used by the Club's Community Trust for their holiday soccer schools, and has also been hired out for a number of corporate team building exercises. So there's always something going on and it's rewarding to see so many local people being able to make use of the pitches.

Hiring the indoor pitch costs £90 per hour, and the outdoor area is £60 per hour. Please feel free to drop us a line if you'd like to come along!

Dave Frith and Mike Rooke
Academy Training Centre Managers
thedome@readingfc.co.uk