Refugees always welcome at FC United

It’s almost exactly a year since FC United supporters held a collection for refugees at Broadhurst Park.

It’s almost exactly a year since FC United supporters held a collection for refugees at Broadhurst Park. It warmed the heart to see two vans outside the ground before the match with Corby last September crammed with bags of food, clothes, toiletries and tents; the result of people trying to help people, some of the bravest people on this planet, retain some dignity in the squalid conditions of refugee camps across Europe. On a day when football supporters across the country showed solidarity with refugees hoping to start a new life in Europe a large “Refugees Welcome??? banner was unfurled before kick-off at the St Mary’s Road End of Broadhurst Park. This Saturday, a year on, thousands of people will take part in a national demonstration in London in support of refugees.

It’s difficult to get your head round what life must be like in one of those refugee camps but it’s apparent from hearing some of the migrants speak that the support and assistance provided by ordinary people, in contrast to their governments, is much appreciated. As many countries shamefully slam the door shut on refugees it has fallen increasingly to ordinary people, and non-governmental organisations, to raise awareness of the plight of those fleeing war, persecution and life-crushing poverty and to offer support and aid, whether it’s cash, teabags, sleeping bags or a room in their house.

Typical of this grassroots action is the Hummingbird Project based in Buxton and formed just over a year ago to raise funds and collect aid to send to Syria and other refugee hot spots around Europe including breastfeeding mums and babies in camps in Macedonia and kids in camps on the Greek island of Lesvos. Two members of the Hummingbird Project were invited to the Malcolm of Course You Can night at Broadhurst Park in July and spoke of how they were moved to do something by the images that filled our television screens last summer of thousands of ordinary people risking their lives to get to Europe to make better lives for themselves. Indeed, the Hummingbird Project’s DIY spirit has much in common with FC United; “we are ordinary people doing the best we can to help others. It is an amazing adventure and a privilege to be part of so much goodwill???. The Malcolmses crowd brought along underwear and bras to contribute to a collection on the night and also dug deep to raise a few quid for the Hummingbird Project.

But why should we as football supporters worry our heads about the refugee crisis? Shouldn’t we be spending pre-match drinking beer and having a laugh rather than collecting knickers and filling vans with aid for refugees? Ignoring for one moment the simple fact that all of us are human beings first and football supporters second, football has a wonderful power to break down the barriers of language, culture and religion enabling us to reach out and befriend those who arrive on our shores.

Anyone who’s ever met a refugee or asylum seeker will know that many of them are football daft and whilst it might be difficult for us to even begin to contemplate what it must be like clinging for dear life to the underside of a lorry on a cross-Channel journey before scampering clear at a motorway service station, we can still chat about Marcus Rashford and Wayne Rooney over a brew. You often find that many refugees have a favourite English football team having watched the Premier League avidly at home. FC United of Manchester supporters, ourselves refugees, albeit on a less serious scale, of the hostile takeover of Manchester United, should perhaps understand more than any other group of football fans the need for people to find sanctuary and a warm welcome as they try to make a better life for themselves.

Of course, it’s nothing new for FC United of Manchester to be helping refugees and asylum seekers, the club has been doing it since day one. Our very first People United Day back in the North West Counties League days saw banners welcoming asylum seekers and refugees paraded around the pitch at Gigg Lane, perhaps the first time that many of us had witnessed support for refugees being openly expressed inside a British football ground and utterly befitting of this great city built on immigration. And over the last decade FC have run coaching sessions and football tournaments for refugees in Manchester and the annual Big Coat Day has made a valuable contribution to keeping the city’s destitute asylum seekers warm in the winter months.

This season’s People United Day on Saturday 29th October will be similarly refugee friendly. Following FC United’s match against Gloucester City a team from United Glasgow FC, comprised largely of refugees will take on a team from the Freedom from Torture charity. Freedom from Torture provide clinical support, including medical consultations and psychological therapies, for victims of torture who arrive in the UK as asylum seekers having suffered the kind of pain and suffering that the rest of us can probably barely imagine. One of the many strands of FC United’s community work involves a group from Freedom from Torture attending weekly football sessions at Broadhurst Park. The eight regular attendees plus three others will make up their team on the day.

Some FC supporters may remember United Glasgow FC visiting FC United a few years ago at Gigg Lane when many of the team enjoyed a warm pre-match welcome in Course You Can Malcolm and they went on to play in a tournament in Leeds the following day which they won. The driver of the bus that brought them to Manchester that day, Andy Cheshire, is now FC United’s Community and Education Manager and Andy has been instrumental in arranging this fixture. A return match in Glasgow as part of Refugee Week in June next year is planned and Andy hopes that these friendly matches will become regular fixtures in the calendar.

United Glasgow FC was formed in 2011 to primarily help refugees and asylum seekers but they now welcome players from all nationalities, genders and walks of life bringing together individuals with a shared love of football who may otherwise never have met. Just like FC United they take a principled stance against all forms of discrimination and are committed to providing affordable football.

People United Day this year will also include an exhibition on the involvement of refugees in football and if you have any ideas for the exhibition or would like to help out in any way with it then Andy Cheshire would love to hear from you. You can email Andy at community@fc-utd.uk. Further details of everything going on at People United Day will follow in due course but once again it promises to be a cracking, heartwarming day. Indeed it is as much to do with what this football club is about as winning leagues and snaffling the occasional late winner. Refugees welcome? Don’t be daft, of course they are.