The sun is shining down on Hackney Marshes, hundreds of people have flocked to the UK’s home of Sunday League for their morning kickabout. In one corner of the fields, a training session is taking place. But here, it’s not all about trophies.
The Sporting Hackney Mind programme has been hosting these sessions since their inception in the summer of 2018. In collaboration with the mental health charity Mind, the team at SHFC have been able to provide opportunities to those with mental health problems to play football.
Jamie Duff, one of the coaches, knows how important sport can be to those with mental health challenges.
“Sport provides people suffering from mental health difficulties with the opportunity to get fit, meet different people and develop new skills,” said Duff. “It also teaches you how to get along with others and overcome problems. The great thing about this project is the feeling that it is a community. We all feel part of something.”
This is a message that is backed up by mental health charity, Mind: “We use the power of sport and physical activity to raise awareness, tackle mental health stigmas, and support those of us with mental health problems to become more active.”
The UK’s male suicide rate was at its highest in two decades in 2020 and Sporting Hackney is trying to combat this. The partnership with Mind has helped the club put on these sessions as Duff said they are a link between the coaches and its participants.
Mind acknowledges the benefits that physical activity can have on its participants and this football programme is a great example.
A big factor for the programme’s great success over recent years is the environment that has been cultivated by Duff, his fellow coaches, and the participants.
“There’s a really nice atmosphere. Everybody’s playing football and having a laugh,” said Duff.
“It’s been really positive and some of the people at Mind have said it’s one of the best [projects] they’ve seen – because of the atmosphere.”
One of the participants said: “I get positive thoughts. I’ve been strong mentally and physically. I’m more committed and going in the right direction and in the future, I want to become a professional coach.”
Sporting Hackney deliver a mental health football project in partnership with Mind (Mind in the City, Hackney & Waltham Forest), with participants drawn from Mind’s local networks of mental health service users & partners! https://t.co/jY64HRNO2H #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek pic.twitter.com/DlqBS7N12K
— London FA ? (@LondonFA) May 13, 2019
The project not only helps the participants, but it has allowed the volunteers to develop as people and coaches as a result of taking part in the programme.
Duff believes that all those involved help each other during the sessions: “We see it not as a charity, it’s a mutually beneficial project. We get a lot out of it, as do the participants. We get to practise our coaching and learn new skills. It’s great fun and so many people from our club have got involved.”
From listening to Duff, the enthusiasm is evident. It is clear that he cares very deeply about the project and realises the importance of it.
According to him, everyone at the club “see[s] them as one of our teams. We’ve got a first team, a second team, all the youth teams and veterans and we want them to be a registered team.”
Duff said that the Sporting Hackney Mind community has helped individuals to open up and come out of their shell.
“We coach people with long-term mental health problems who have been in the system a long time and getting that social aspect out of it is as important as anything. We noticed enormously that after a few weeks they were talking more, and they were opening up.”
Duff was full of praise when speaking about the players he coaches.
Despite the different skill levels on display, Duff said that they “encourage [each other], make sure they are alright, cheer each other when they score a goal and that’s the sort of atmosphere there is.”
The success of the programme was recognised when it was chosen as the mayor of Hackney’s charity in 2020. But due to the pandemic, Sporting Hackney Mind was unable to reap the rewards of this.
Stay in touch with family/friends online #KeepTalkingMH #SocialDistancing #MentalHealthMatters #SportingHackneyMind
— Sporting Hackney FC (@SportingHackney) March 26, 2020
The club missed out on the money from the Hackney Half Marathon and the gala dinner which is held for the charity of the year. This was unfortunate for those involved as the money would have gone a long way in ensuring the programme’s future.
Duff admitted that Sporting Hackney “aren’t the greatest club at shouting about what [they] do and [they] aren’t very good on social media.” He said: “We do what we do as well as we can, and hope people find out about it in the end.”
It is important that somebody shouts about what they do. By putting on these sessions for those who suffer from mental health problems, Sporting Hackney coaches have volunteered their time to help countless people through different challenges and deserve huge recognition for their work.
