Football and Community: How Local Clubs and Organizations Foster Unity and Inclusivity

Many local communities are brought together by football. There are examples in almost every town in the country of how football can bring together communities of kids, adults, and even elderly people. Most local football teams have age groups from 4/5 up to adults playing football. This creates opportunities for kids to develop skills, have fun, make friends, and be competitive. When you get older, it becomes more serious but still, it is about friendship and togetherness and discipline, it teaches you valuable life lessons in endless ways, it proves who the true lovers of football are and it keeps you a part of that community. 

Not only does it provide a platform for the kids to grow up learning skills and developing a football career, but it also develops a career in coaching for those taking part. It’s the start of a career that is usually funded by the local teams to collect the coaching badges and gain the valuable experience needed in coaching. 

Local teams also provide safe spaces for people to exercise, learn, and have fun. Usually, they keep kids in certain areas off of the streets mixing with crime and on the pitch keeping fit and learning important life skills. The clubs provide funding to the local councils and community as they generate their income from local ticket sales, player fees, and in some cases, merchandise. 

So the benefits that local teams have on the community are huge, they provide opportunities in and out of football, they teach people valuable lessons, and provide jobs and money needed in certain areas that need it to develop schools, local social centres, and the overall community. 

Hackney Wick FC is a prime example of a football club that works with the community, to give people opportunities and to even save lives. Made up of a group of volunteers, the club describes themselves as not being 'your regular football club' and they share that their 'ethos is based on community engagement, uniting the local diverse groups as well as battling peer pressure and tackling gang influences' which showcases the clubs' goal to better the community through a shared love of the game. 

Hackney Wick doesn't just give people the opportunity on the football pitch, they also offer educational workshops, sporting opportunities, mentoring, and access to work opportunities which gets people off the streets, out of the gangs, and into a good place with lots of positive opportunities. Moreover, they offer training, employment, and community projects that promote health and well-being alongside community safety.

One prominent example of a big team helping the local community would be Liverpool. They actively engage with the local community through the Liverpool FC Foundation, which focuses on creating life-changing opportunities for children and young people. The foundation's initiatives cover a wide range of areas, including health and well-being, sports participation, and educational support. The club's players and staff actively participate in community outreach programs, visiting schools, hospitals, and community centers to inspire and support residents. The impact of Liverpool FC's involvement in the community has been substantial, emphasizing the profound influence that a football team can have beyond the stadium.

Another example of a community-based team is my local club. Club Thorne. A club built for the community. The emphasis of Club Thorne is to be a football club at the heart of the community. As a non-profit organisation, the club works with schools and communities to deliver projects that make a difference to the local community. The club offers many opportunities for young people to play football and enjoy themselves and then when getting older and progressing through the ages, the cub offers huge opportunities to play football at a fairly high level. The club also offers many different opportunities outside of playing the game, they offer ways into coaching such as funding the course, they offer to fund referee courses and they offer roles inside the football club such as groundsmen, media jobs, and bar work. 

Fans. The most important part of football. Lots of different people come together to support a team and help build the team to become a rock for the community and togetherness. Fans don't only motivate players on the pitch, but they also give the club the funds to function and grow and keep playing the game. Fans are hugely important to smaller teams as they are the main income to run the club. However, their importance isn't just money related, it is about the togetherness, people coming together from all different genders, nationalities, races, and all different backgrounds to watch a team play for 90 minutes a week and all of them loving each other, backing each other and focusing on this one team. 

It's safe to say that community in football is so highly important, it ranges from keeping people safe to funding coaching badges or helping local charities. I think football is a huge platform to promote safety in communities as it brings so many different people together and gives people a passion to keep them busy and away from danger. Football offers so many different opportunities and so many positives can be taken from the game. How can you not love the beautiful game? 

By Cian Stringer