Partners
Changing Lives FC
Changing Lives FC, based in Harlow, Essex, are the only competitive refugee football team in the UK.
The squad was created in 2020 to support refugees and asylum seekers living in the local community and bring positivity into their lives. The club provides the players with a chance to socialise, have fun and exercise while forming long-lasting bonds through the medium of sport.
The team’s Founder and Manager David Simmons began his journey alongside his players in the second division of the Harlow and District League. Going from strength to strength through teamwork and determination, Changing Lives FC now play in the Essex Alliance League playing high-quality football.
Sir Tom Finney Soccer Centre
The Sir Tom Finney Preston Soccer Centre, FA Charter Standard Club, provides high quality football coaching for children and adults with pan disabilities, non disabled children and adults from all communities across the City of Preston in a safe and fun environment - regardless of ability, disability, sex, colour, race or religious belief.
Every decision made by the Soccer Centre is guided by their ethos of ‘football for all’, and in 2017 they introduced sessions for people living locally who have sought or are seeking asylum in the UK.
The sessions have since grown from 8 people at the start to over 140 different participants of varying ages and nationalities, with a weekly attendance of 40. This has helped refugees and asylum seekers settle into the community and meet people with similar experiences.
Big Leaf Foundation
The Big Leaf Foundation provides a nurturing programme of activities, projects and events, that focus on combatting social isolation for displaced young people [16-25] in Surrey.
Sport is an essential part of the foundation’s provision, and they've seen its hugely positive impact on mental well-being first-hand. Through sport, displaced young people can develop coping mechanisms for trauma, stay active, and build friendships and communities.
Big Leaf currently supports over 200 displaced young people to access weekly football, basketball and boxing sessions. They launched weekly football sessions in April 2021, and a real community has developed with longer-term players offering guidance and friendship to recently arrived young people settling into the community.
Comic Relief
Fair Shot is funded by Comic Relief as part of the Sport Relief campaign. Sport Relief harnesses the power of sport and entertainment to bring people together across the UK, to get active, have fun and raise life-changing funds. Since launching in 2002, Sport Relief has raised £420million so far, thanks to the generous British public, and supported millions of lives in the UK and around the world.
O'Neills
O’Neills are extremely proud to supply Fair Shot FC with their kits. We believe football is a common language across all walks of life that can help bring people together and build community around a shared love for the game. It’s an honour to support Fair Shot, a movement demonstrates this positive and meaningful impact.