A cold, blustery day made life a little uncomfortable for a short while for some; each of the participants had lived through far worse.
Each one taking part in the Northern Trials for the Homeless World Cup had their own story. To be eligible to take part in the competition you had to be homeless, or have been homeless.
To get to where they are now is a massive step forward, football, the uniting force for good for players from across the north of England brought together by various support organisations to a tournament organised by MFC Foundation, together with Street Soccer London.
They came from Liverpool, Newcastle, Gateshead, Hartlepool, Sunderland, Stockton and, of course, Middlesbrough. Our area has the third highest number of homeless people in England, only London and Birmingham have more.
The venue was Middlesbrough Sports Village, their facilities kindly donated for the day by Everyone Active, who, together with Middlesbrough Council and many smaller, but hugely significant organisations, have been massively supportive in bringing this project together.
Long in the planning, this was the first time ever that trials for Team England had been held outside London and the organisers, Street Soccer London, two days earlier had held their traditional trials in the capital.
Frankie and Matthew, from Street Soccer had travelled from London, Cameron and Gerry from Edinburgh. They’ll form part of the committee which will select just eight players to represent England at the next Homeless World Cup in Oslo in September.
“I don’t know how we’re going to do it,” says Frankie, head coach of the England team. “We’ve been really impressed today, by the organisation, the facilities and the talent. There are some seriously good players here. We have some big decisions to make and we’ll have to make them by next week.”
England were beaten finalists last year when the tournament was held in Seoul. They were managed then by Craig McManus, Acting Head of MFC Foundation. Craig, who had played for Scotland in the tournament in 2016, will again be in charge.
Frankie and Craig McManus pictured alongside MFC Foundation’s Sean Mackin and Gemma Bellas
“Today’s event means so much to me, personally,” says Craig, speaking alongside the founder of Street Soccer, David Duke. Both Glaswegians who have experienced unthinkable lows in their lives, but who, given a second chance in life, are dedicating it to help others.
“We can empathise with the players today. The tournament is important, of course it is, but we need to help everyone find a pathway to support. We asked everyone to show respect to each other today, to talk with each other, to help. I don’t think we needed to, there was a special atmosphere created by the participants. You could see that on the pitch and hear it when walking around, mixing with everyone.
“I’d just like to say a big thank-you to everyone who has brought this event to life, but we need those people and many more to help bring a sustainable solution to a problem which in today’s society is unacceptable.”
For the record, teams were split into three groups for the tournament, the winners of which, Hackney Tactics, Holgate Army and Teesside Reds, received a trophy. Every participant from every team took home a medal together with memories of a special day.
Crucially, they left with hope beyond that of a place in the team for Oslo.
