Alive and Kicking

LGBTQ+ History and “the beautiful game” Football and the LGBTQ+ community may seem an awkward pairing: there are zero currently playing ‘out’ Premier League footballers and a long history of normalised homophobia both on and off the pitch despite the FA having banned such behaviour (though often very late, with for instance homophobic chants being banned only in 2007). It is important to acknowledge that this is a problem concentrated in men’s football, with a number of publicly gay and bisexual footballers on professional women’s teams, since the 1920s! It is also important to understand that the homophobia long embedded in professional football was and is often tangled with wider intersectional issues of marginalisation and bigotry. Justin Fashanu for instance – the first professional football player to come out as gay and the first Black British player to be traded for a million pounds, often subject to both homophobic and racial abuse despite his skill and success as a player – was described by Gay Times in 1991 as “as rare in the football world as wasps are in winter”, and the tragedy of his life and death after his coming out is still seen by many as a cautionary tale to closeted male professional footballers. However, football has also historically been a great force for social mobility and the celebration of identities. Increasingly, we are seeing it being actively used as a force for good towards LGBTQ+ rights as well – and this didn’t start on the Premier League or World Cup pitches but in the world of grassroots (including in Africa, with work being done by groups like the Tomorrow Women in Sports Foundation). 10 years after Fashanu’s death the Justin Campaign was set up and formed ‘The Justin Fashanu All-Stars’, a largely symbolic team open to anyone who wanted to play regardless of identity. Today, a search on Pride Sports’ ‘LGBT+ Sports Club finder’ will get you 27 football teams all over England alone, from Brighton to Newcastle, with countless more existing on the more casual word-of-mouth level. In fact, many queer people find huge comfort in their football teams. Little spoken about but important is the sheer joy and ‘body euphoria’ many LGBTQ+ people experience through the sport itself; in more widely homophobic communities teams have rallied to support specific members in the face of wider social bigotry and abuse and can serve as a regular, reliable social refuge. With the UK regressing in its once-high ‘the Rainbow Map’ rankings and the sadly still relatively common estrangement of queer people from their biological families, it’s important to recognise the comfort that such communities can provide. Social transformation often begins at the grassroots level, and we’ve seen how movements in the amateur football community have trickled up into initiatives like FIFA’s Rainbow Laces and Football v Homophobia to encourage acceptance even in people unfamiliar or uncomfortable with queer pride, though there is still a huge way to go. Against expectations, football can be a force for good even in this historically problematic arena, and we look forward to seeing such movements grow both in the grassroots and the mainstream.

Boosting our Mental Wellbeing January is a month when many of us feel stressed, anxious, or low: gloomy weather, a dip in social activity and funds after the festive bustle of late December, and often the added stress of expectations for the New Year, let alone a global pandemic, all add up. Here at Alive and Kicking, however, we’ve just received some good news. Last year we partnered with the Angus Lawson Memorial Trust to empower sports coaches in Kenya to deliver mental health education through football to young people facing disadvantage under their care: the results coming in from this programme are hopeful, and we thought you might like to hear about them too. The programme was set up to further understanding of mental health and reduce stigma, to encourage help-seeking behaviour without burdening an already struggling system, and to provide sports coaches with tools to be able to support their communities. 25 coaches at schools across Nairobi were trained and delivered over 1,300 hours of sessions (despite the impact of COVID) over the year, helping almost 3,000 young people to look after their mental health through difficulties including abuse, loneliness, drug use, parental negligence, and relationship problems. This was done through a two-pronged approach of delivering education through specially designed football drills and equipment (23 of the 25 schools reported that lack of sports equipment would otherwise have been a major barrier to delivery of this programme, and are now also able to use the equipment for other sports sessions for the community) and then empowering young people with the option for access to further support services. 95% of participants said this was the first time that mental health had been addressed in their lives, and rates of improvement in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour surrounding mental health in themselves and their community were significant. Take-up of support was higher than after previous health programmes, and implementation was easier to incorporate into existing physical education class time and afternoon football sessions, making it a sustainable and organic part of students’ and coaches’ lives. Coaches indicated that they felt many issues couldn’t have been identified without the programme: Irene, a teacher and coach at Langata High School, told us that “students would withdraw, others would get angry, others were not able to speak, others went silent. The programme allows us to identify who needs help and how we help them.” In fact, she felt the programme helped her and the other educators as well as their students, and is planning to study counselling at college to help people further – exactly the kind of long-term impact we hope to make in programmes like this. It seems appropriate to conclude by talking about how we can look after ourselves, and how football can help us do this even without the benefit of coaches like Irene. You might have heard of ‘Blue Monday’ this month – supposedly pinpointed through an algorithm devised by a university psychologist – but the truth is that mental health is a longer-term, more complicated presence in our lives than any one day. Regularly taking part in a team sport, and/or helping coach an amateur or youth team (like Irene), can be a way to make self-care a habit in your life, just as the incorporation of our mental health programme into existing school timetables in Nairobi enabled regular, effective delivery of mental health support. The physical activity, time outside, sense of achievement, and of course community and social aspects all have a hugely beneficial impact on your mental and physical health, regardless of how ‘serious’ your games are. So get out there, join a grassroots team or ask a few friends to the park, and make sure to check in on each other.

It gives us great pleasure to share the Alive and Kicking Annual Review of 2020/21, featuring updates on our commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals; the A+K operations in Kenya and Zambia; and a record-breaking fundraising effort.   Thanks to the team at fourfeet for their fantastic design work.   To enlarge the font, please click ‘open’ and then download as a PDF  

Our annual 5-a-side Fundraising Tournament took place last Friday at Shoreditch Power League, just down the road from our AK UK office. The event was a great success with teams from all over London competing for bragging rights across the city!   The purpose of the tournament was to raise awareness for AK’s work delivering vital health education in communities facing disadvantage, as well as raising vital funds to support the health programmes we deliver. Collectively, just over £6,000 was raised through generous donations from the corporate teams involved. These were: Allianz, Capital Group, Clifford Chance, Clyde & Co, Colossus, Elixirr, Norton Rose Fulbright, Peridot Partners and PJT Partners. A massive thank you to all the competing organisations for their donations. Allianz came out on top as the 2021 Tournament Winners! A big congratulations to them after what was a gruelling afternoon of football in East London. A thank you from everyone at AK to all of the teams involved for their support and efforts. It was a brilliant atmosphere and great to see so many faces in person. Hopefully we will see even more teams there next time too! Click here for a short highlights video from the tournament Click here for a the gallery of team photos

AK trustee sets a new world record!  The famous challenge of Lands’ End to John O’Groats has a new world record holder! This gruelling challenge, also known as LEJOG, involves cycling 874 miles from Cornwall to the top of mainland Scotland.  The now previous world record for a triple tandem was set at around 6.5 days; however, Simon Nasta, along with friends Graeme and Dan, have just completed the fastest ever cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats on a triple tandem. What an incredible achievement!  To put this into perspective, this is like cycling from London to Barcelona, or even London to Milan! And of course, cycling from the south to the north is up hill…so its even harder!  They completed LEJOG in just 4 Days, 7 Hours, 35 Minutes and 38 Seconds (not that we were timing too closely…) This meant they were averaging 200 miles a day – what an incredible effort!  Nasta recalled: “The highlight was the support we got across the country from people giving us claps, friendly honking and cheering. It was a real boost which kept us going.”  When asked if he would take on the challenge again, Nasta said: “Never.”  “It was brutal and triplet tandem riding is not the safest. We blew out four tyres which was not fun at speed.”  If we are honest though, this amazing feat is no surprise to the Alive and Kicking team. Over the years, Simon, now a Trustee of the Charity, has completed several crazy challenges to raise both awareness and funding for Alive and Kicking. This time around he has not only broken a world record, but he has also raised over £11,000 to support our work which makes the achievement even more special. From all at Alive and Kicking, we would like to thank Simon, Graeme and Dan for their brilliant efforts and look forward to seeing what record they break next. To find out more about the challenge and to donate, please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/lejogtriple   Grasshoppers Sesquicentenary Golf Day There was another impressive milestone in the North West as Preston Grasshoppers Rugby Football Club celebrated their 150 year anniversary – and used the occasion to raise funds for charity! 30 teams of four competed on an immaculate course in the best weather of the week and raised almost £4,000 thanks to the generous support of a host of club, local and individual sponsors. Alive and Kicking are delighted and grateful to have been included in the recipients receiving an outstanding £1,700 donation, alongside St Catherine’s Hospice and The Alzheimer’s Society. The winning team were Susan and Roger Hetherington, Emy and Phil Aceret- Burgess of Wilpshire Golf Club shown below on the 1st tee with President Keith Brierley resplendent in suitably festive attire and concentrating on holding onto the Alive and Kicking Sesquicentenary commemorative rugby ball. We’d like to say a massive thank you to PGRFC, all of the participants in the golf day, and especially to the organising committee that made it all possible after previous attempts were thwarted by lockdowns and restriction. Thank you to Keith Aitchison, Dick Greenwood, Max Horton, Paul Carroll, Ian McFarlane all pictured below at the event. Good luck for the new season Hoppers! Want to raise funds for AK? There are loads of different ways you can support our work whether it’s running your own event, taking on a challenge or joining AKFC. If you’re partial to a game of golf yourself, there are still spaces available at the biennial AK Golf Day on 16th September at North Wilts Golf Course, Devizes. For more information, please click here.