Following success as regional winner of the Volunteer of the Year in Adult football for the Central FA Grassroots Awards, Pat Griffin (pictured) is now in with a chance to win a national award.

The Milton coach has been nominated for the People's Award in the 2013 Scottish FA Grassroots Awards, presented by McDonald's and the Sunday Mail.

For the first time in the awards 10 year history, three shortlisted regional winners from across Scotland will be entered into the People's Award.

The nominees, shortlisted from every nomination received across the length and breadth of Scotland, have been shortlisted for their incredible dedication and services to grassroots football.

The successful nominee will then be announced at the national awards ceremony where they will be presented with their award by McDonald's Head of Scottish Football, Kenny Dalglish and Scotland Manager, Gordon Strachan, at Hampden Park on 26th September.

Pat is counting on the support of people from Milton to win the People's Award, with voting now open at www.scottishfa.co.uk/awards.

Pat helped to establish Milton FC more than 40 years ago and has dedicated the vast majority of his time to ensuring the club is one of the most successful teams in the Central Scotland area ever since.

During his time at the club Pat has been a player, coach and has now moved into a committee member role overseeing its growth. Thanks to Pat's incredible work the club now boasts more than 350 male and female players on its books from the under-9s right up to the under-19's.

This rise in player numbers over the past few years has had a knock on effect and resulted in a steady rise of volunteers coming into the club - many of whom now hold coaching qualifications.

As a result, the quality of training and number of qualified coaches available to the club as a whole has consistently been on the up.

No job at Milton Amateur is too big or too small for Pat and he can regularly been found at the clubhouse putting up goal nets or even running around on training days retrieving balls that are kicked out of the park. His enthusiasm for the game and the club doesn't end on the pitch, in fact, Pat has in recent years become the driving force behind securing enough money to build and fund a new 3G pitch, something that the whole club benefits from.

Pat's unwavering dedication to improving and developing the club has paid off and in 2004 the club became the first in the area to be awarded the Charter Club status from Stirling Council. Since then the club has also been recognised by the Scottish FA who awarded them with Quality Mark status.

McDonald's Head of Scottish Football, Kenny Dalglish said: "The Scottish FA Grassroots Football Awardswere set up to recognise and celebrate the work of the thousands of grassroots volunteers who give up their time to support grassroots football.

"Without the energy, enthusiasm and continued dedication of these unsung heroes, grassroots football in so many communities would not be possible.

"It's clear that these special individuals are an asset to their community and I hope the people of Milton all show their support and vote for Pat."

Voting for the People's Award opens today (11th August) for four weeks and the nominee with the most votes will be named the People's Award winner at the 2013 awards ceremony.

To find out more about the awards, and to vote go to www.scottishfa.co.uk/awards