A guest blog by Karine Nohr
Normally, my son-in-law James uses his bicycle to get around the City. He does this because he is very aware of the carbon footprint he leaves, each and every time he drives the car. But unusually, on Tuesday nights, he has to use a car to collect surplus food, from ShefFood, which provides lunch after the weekly football training session at U-Mix.
He had often mentioned the good time he was having, volunteering at U-Mix, and the wonderful people who he was meeting there at the ‘Belonging Together’ Project. “It’s the nicest group I have ever played with in my life!” He told me that he found it so rewarding to be able to contribute, watching people progress. So, having written about the value of community in last week’s Sheffield Telegraph, I thought that it was high time that I went to see what was going on at U-Mix.
U-Mix is a Sports and Community Centre in Lowfield Park Sharrow and is the home of FURD (Football Unites, Racism Divides). Running since 1995, FURD was conceived as a response to racism in communities in and around Sheffield United football ground, aiming to educate people around issues of racism and increase understanding between communities, thereby tackling racism through sport. They now are part of an international network including Kick It Out and FARE (Football Against Racism in Europe).
FURD responds to the needs of the Sharrow community and now offers free football sessions to a multitude of different groups, including children, youth, women, walking football, refugees and others, On the day that I visited, the ‘Belonging Together’ football session was in progress. This particular group was set up in 2013 on the back of some research that showed that football can bring a sense of belonging to newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers in a town. ‘Belonging Together’ runs on 3 themes, “the 3 Fs”: Football, Food and Friendship. And it was for this weekly event that James was collecting food. ‘Belonging Together’ is so successful that 60 people are now registered to attend.
Victor Mujakachi, a Trustee of FURD, who was previously a player and now helps run the session, has been involved with the project for 12 years. Originally the ‘Kick and Run’ session ran at Mount Pleasant; since then he has seen many people come and go. The Belonging session, which began in 2014 as part of the research initiative, had Sheffield United provide free tickets to participants on occasion. Recently, FURD partnered with Sheffield United for an additional session every Wednesday at 1 pm as part of the ‘Welcome Through Football’ initiative funded by the European Football Development network.
Praising Sheffield United Football Club for having supported the initiative, Victor initially tried not to be partisan to a football team, But, he said, laughing, “I eventually became a supporter of Sheffield United”! “We get people from different parts of the world. The majority have no English, but this helps people learn the language and integrate on the pitch. I have noticed the aspect of differentiation goes away. The language issue becomes a non-issue and people are relaxed, friendships build up, some lifelong”.
FURD is lucky to have on its staff Keith, previously a football Coach from Sheffield United. Brought up in Sharrow he has been playing football in Sharrow since the age of 13 and has been part of FURD since he was 15. Keith was a part-time staff member at FURD, where he rose through the ranks as a young person, volunteer and coach. He had previously worked for Sheffield United Community Foundation but is no longer affiliated with them. He gets everyone joining in and having a fantastic time.
Indeed he is training two of the participants of ‘Belonging Together’ to become football coaches themselves. I asked one of them. Arthur, who was captaining a team, what he had got out of attending the football sessions. “Friendship, leadership skills, people skills, football skills and now an opportunity for professional development”.
I spoke with B, who told me that coming to the project had allowed him “to meet so many new friends, to work out, to improve my football. Everyone is happy and it makes me feel like I belong in Sheffield”.
FURD runs the biggest volunteer project in the UK, Sijo Joseph, Project Manager for ‘Belonging Together’ explained, “getting young people into volunteering and into employment”. FURD initiated a volunteer project in 1999, known as the Millennium Volunteer Programme, which received significant funding and was one of the largest of its kind. the current project also aims to encourage volunteering.
After completing a degree in Sports and Business Management, Sijo returned to his birth country, India, but then came back to the UK and was introduced to FURD through a leaflet at his church. Starting as a volunteer, he is now employed to oversee the development of U-Mix into a ‘Belonging Hub’. This new initiative is going to be a ‘One Stop Place’: a welcoming community space that meets the needs of local people.
“Football is a universal language”, he said. “We also offer Yoga and Gym, as well as counselling, and soon we will introduce coffee mornings and baking classes”.
U-Mix has developed a multitude of partnerships, with all sorts of organisations. For example, very close to U-Mix are the Kitlocker premises. On the day that I was there, Kitlocker had come to donate football kits to the ‘Belonging Together’ players, which was welcomed with joy and enthusiasm.
U-Mix is a truly wonderful and joyous example of how communities can come together and co-create an environment that is welcoming, constructive and meets the needs of local people. And because it is local, people mostly come on foot or on bicycles. So the carbon footprint of the centre and its activities is very low indeed! And because we all now need to be considering our environmental impact in everything we do, FURD is a win-win project. Well done, them!
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