Here’s a summary of those two years, along with a photo dump and some numbers……
2 years old….. WOW!! 🤯
It feels like it should be 5 😂
Back in 2023, I was on the search for casual football after I was struggling to get 9 friends together for a weekly 5-a-side because everything was understandably busy with work, family and other things.
I asked Andy’s Man Club if there was anything about and I searched Google, but there was nothing.
After putting a post on Facebook to gain interest, Mental Health FC CIC was born after the response was very positive!!
At the same time as starting MHFC I came across the club/team Brodsworth Welfare – Mental Wellbeing team (now named Doncaster Centurions FC) along the lines of something I was looking for and joined with fantastic people, the club was great, but I knew I wanted something similar but also something different which was concentrating solely on just turn up, casual and relaxed football.
I managed to quickly brand it, sort the social media and a website and on the 29th July 2023, we had our very first session, we had no idea how many would turn up, we hoped for at least 10, so we could have a 5-a-side…. 11 turned up.
Each week, the numbers grew, and with word of mouth and social media, it grew so much quicker than expected.
I knew that there were many people who wanted to join that couldn’t make that day, that time or that location, and so I decided to expand and introduce the sessions into other areas.
Sessions were added to Scawthorpe, Conisbrough and then Armthorpe (now Rossington), and it helped so many people in all parts of Doncaster.
We then expanded into other areas of the UK in Scunthorpe and Retford, which was mind-blowing to me.
Sessions still go ahead on as many Bank Holidays as we can, as long as the venue is open, as we know a lot need the weekly outlet and so are alone on Bank Holidays.
We’ve played sessions through all weathers so people can get their weekly football fix and keep their mental health positive.
We’ve had torrential rain, snow, hail, high winds, high heat and even some together, but as long as the sessions are safe to run, then we’ve put them on and players have still enjoyed and appreciated the sessions.
As well as the sessions, a big thing for me was the ability to give back to the community and make people happy, so we started MHFC Experiences and MHFC Surprises.
With the experiences and surprises, we managed to sort gifts or tickets for people to have or go to, to hopefully make them happy and give them a mental boost.
Some of them included a signed Rovers shirt, a signed Rovers football, Rovers hospitality tickets, a Rovers box for a game, England U19s tickets, Lionesses tickets, and a ton of Rovers clothing.
We’re hoping to do more, bigger and better things to make an even better impact.
We were also given a huge box of Dove wash products and some chafing cream in which we gave it out to people who needed it for free.
Due to our impact on the community, we managed to WIN THREE awards, from the Sheffield FA, Well Doncaster and Civic Mayor, which still feels surreal to write.
We’ve had many media features, including from Mitre, Sheffield FA and Doncaster Freepress and hopefully more to come.
We’ve had the supporters of locally known people and footballers, including James Coppinger, Terri Harper, ADMT, Jay McGrath and more, with hopefully more to come.
James Coppinger has been massive for me and MHFC in supporting and helping so much, thank you James!!
We managed to design, make and sell our own custom football shirt, and even give custom shirts to those known people who support us and have their names and numbers on the back.
We’ve taken part in charity games and tournaments in Wales and at Doncaster Prison, and we hope to take part in more in the future.
MHFC has done a lot, I’ve done a lot and pushed myself and my anxiety as much as I can through attending events, networking and taking part in as many things as possible.
I’m still gutted about the National Grassroots Show, but I’m doing my best to improve so I can hopefully attend next year, and in turn this also helps me in my personal life.
Thank you to the MHFC team / volunteers who have helped and supported me, run sessions and more. I try to say thank you and reward them as much as possible, so they know how much they mean to me and MHFC, it wouldn’t be possible without them.
Thank you to all the members for their support, as it’s been new, we’ve been learning as we go, some things we haven’t got right, but we’ve always tried to improve to help the sessions and people attending, thank you for your understanding and patience.
Some figures from the first two years…..
TOTAL MHFC SESSIONS – 361
ATTENDANCE – 9,441
SIGNED UP MEMBERS – 705
REFRESHMENTS & CHAT NUMBERS – 2,028
NUMBER OF WEEKLY SESSIONS – 6
AREAS COVERED – 3
AWARDS WON – 3
MHFC EXPERIENCES – 5
MHFC SURPRISES – 4
BALLS LOST – TOO MANY 😳
FRIENDSHIPS STARTED – A LOT 😊
PEOPLE HELPED – HUNDREDS 🙌
HELPING, SUPPORTING & IMPROVING PEOPLE’S MENTAL HEALTH – PRICELESS 💚
FUTURE PLANS….
We have a lot of plans, too many to name here, but I want to start sessions in as many towns and cities as possible.
I also want to start sessions to help different age groups as and when possible, toddlers, kids, teenagers, walking football, women’s only and a session directly aimed at helping those with autism.
I hope to start supporting people in the football industry, those who have been released from a football club, retired, injured, referees, those of an ethnic minority in football, women in football, those struggling with their sexuality and pundits.
I’d like to do a lot more surprises and experiences for people, with them growing in magnitude and being able to document them on video.
I hope to work more with football clubs and brands are the country so we can have a much deeper impact on communities and be able to do more for people with the help of the clubs and brands.
Like I’ve said before, if you’d have told me at the start, where we’d be in 2 years, I wouldn’t have believed you, but now I’m here, I want to push and develop more.
Reach more areas, help more people and bit by bit break the stigma around mental health and improve people’s mental health.
There’s been a lot happening, and I’ve probably missed something off this.
You can see the full set of memorable moments, from the first two years, on this Facebook post https://www.facebook.com/share/15dCV6tENB/?mibextid=wwXIfr
And a HUGE THANK YOU to all the people, councillors, organisations and companies that have supported MHFC financially, as it’s been crucial in helping MHFC become sustainable and grow, without them it wouldn’t be possible.
As always, thank you to our sponsors….
Holls electrical
IFS Risk Solutions
Boxes and Packaging
KBins
Dolphin ICT
AT Boiler Company
DB Cargo UK
Pest X
UTOPIA Design & Marketing
(If you’d like to sponsor MHFC please get in touch)
NATIONAL SPONSORS
