How Leicester are tackling mental health issues with goals

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Sunk below street level, where gold and rust coloured leaves obscure passing city centre traffic is a remarkably unremarkable pitch where life-changing games are played weekly.

The thud of footballs hitting the cage surrounding the artificial turf, goal celebrations and the shouts of two excited teams is the soundtrack to every Thursday afternoon at St Margaret's Pastures Sports Centre on the edge of Abbey Park in Leicester.

The scene is no different to what would be seen daily on pitches nestled among tower blocks, outside leisure centres or on the edge of villages up and down the country.

But for this group of men, who are brought together by Leicester City's 'Goal Difference Programme', it has proven to be a place of salvation - where caring for mental wellbeing meets football.

"Without this I wouldn't have the connections I have now," Sanchez Webb told BBC Sport when asked how life-changing the programme has been for him.

By the 33-year-old's count, it was when he found himself homeless for the fourth time in his life that he first started attending the football session which has been designed to help people care for their mental health through teamwork, comradery and physical activity.

The programme is run by Leicester City in the Community, the charitable arm of the Championship football club, and combines the weekly football matches with discussion sessions held every Tuesday at the King Power Stadium.

"I've been struggling on and off for years," Webb told BBC East Midlands Today. "I've had good periods of life and bad periods of life. I've been homeless too many times to count.

"I never used to have anything as an outlet.

"Here, there is a lot of positivity. Even when you feel down and out, it's helped me see that you have to keep going and give it your all and things will change.

"Knowing you won't be on the same team each week means that you have a chance to learn and build a relationship with someone new and help someone new, because it's about helping better one another as well as yourself."

Among those that Webb and the programme participants got to speak to this week were Leicester City captain Ricardo Pereira and Foxes forward Bobby De Cordova-Reid.

Webb admits he was left "starstruck" with the pair stood pitchside as ring-in managers for the day as part of the English Football League's Week of Action., external

It was in the clubhouse after the match, however, that Pereira – an FA Cup winner with the Foxes – and Jamaica international De Cordova-Reid connected with the group as they talked about how they deal with the pressures and challenges of being an elite athlete.

The trials the footballers have faced in their lifetime might not be the same as those faced by the people they were speaking to, but their willingness to share resonated with the group.

"It's important to be seen as a human being and not just a footballer who is out of reach," Pereira said.

"If I open up to you then you will open up to me. And it's a really important first step to getting some help, or to get things off your chest when you are feeling alone or in a bad place."

Pereira reflected on the injury troubles he dealt with in the past - the cruciate ligament tear suffered in 2020 that kept him out for more than 10 months, and the ruptured Achilles tendon that followed in 2022 – when talking about moments he has found difficult.

"It was small things, like just trying to walk, something you take for granted, that suddenly you can't do. That changes your perspective," Pereira said.

"At moments like that you find strengths you didn't know you had.

"I'm stronger now for the injuries I had. Not as a footballer, but as a person there is no doubt. I learned a lot about myself, how to deal with problems, difficult things."

For Webb, who now lives in temporary accommodation and works in security, what Pereira spoke about was something he could relate to.

"Hearing them talk, you could see them as normal people who are just good at football," Webb said.

While this was a session in which Webb and others could see part of themselves in the footballers they idolise, it is football that is used every week to help them cope.

Match tactics, footballing philosophies, and analogies fill every discussion during therapy sessions.

Match footage is pored over and broken down, with attacking approaches and defensive formations translated into a guide for dealing with everyday life.

"We relate that to a topic in mental health," said Mehul Karia, the health and wellbeing coordinator at Leicester City in the Community.

"Using footballing theories and analogies, we find, is a big way to be able to engage with our participants.

"The biggest analogy I use is that when you think about a football team, especially in this day and age and how teams like to play, you are not going to have the ball go up from the keeper straight into the box very often.

"It's not route one. Instead, they play the ball around the back and it might get passed backward. And it's just like life when you try to move forward - you sometimes have to go sideways or take a step back.

"It's how you group together to come forward in the end towards the common goal."

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