Brown, Richard
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I’ve been working at The Big Issue in the North since July 1996, however the work that we do with regards to football and homeless people started in 2002. The International Network of Street Papers (INSP) devised the ‘Homeless World Cup’ with the inaugural tournament being held in Graz, Austria during their City of Culture celebrations in 2003. The team preparation started in October 2002 and we contacted the majority of hostels across England to inform the residents of the trials. Then as every year we have between 300- 4000 homeless people register their interest to be considered. We now run the initial trails regionally, so as to ensure we can reduce barriers to participation from the beginning. Managing the England team also requires me to deliver all the fundraising activity and negotiating with Airlines, Umbro etc.
Last year we launched Liverpool Homeless FC, which is affiliated to the County FA, and we have 10 teams of homeless people within the Club, that play in two of our own leagues and I’m the club Treasurer. This has approximately 100 homeless people playing football every month.
I’ve also devised and delivered a project called the ‘Social Academy’. This lasts for 10 weeks at a time, with up to 20 homeless people playing football once a week combined with compulsory college attendance undertaking level1 and 2 UCR basic Literacy and Numeracy
