Millers help launch football campaign in support of refugees

Along with other major clubs including Wolves and Sheffield Wednesday, the Millers will host a five-a-side match and other challenges for fans and Fair Shot FC, a team of refugees and people seeking asylum.

Fair Shot FC is made up of players from Afghanistan, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Namibia, Senegal, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Syria and The Gambia who have fled to the UK due to war and/or persecution in their home countries.

They have come together through their shared love of football, the common language it provides and the positive impact playing it has on their lives.

Fair Shot player Manar (25), who fled the war in Syria: “It’s everything, it’s like a dream. I feel nothing when I play football, so when I don’'t play, I feel everything, like the problems. When I play the problems go away.”

At the start of next season, Rotherham United will launch a competition for their fans to have the chance to train and play side by side with Fair Shot FC in a friendly five-a-side match and penalty shootout at the club’s training facilities, all wearing exclusively designed Fair Shot home and away kits.

These matches will give them the opportunity to share their passion for football and engage in conversations that inform understanding and create connections, highlighting that within the football community there is far more that unites than divides.

Rotherham United community programme manager Jonny Allan said: “At Rotherham United we welcome difference, it has created the diverse and vibrant community that we are so proud of.

“Our fans are the lifeblood of the club, when they are in the stands, they are one, united by their love of our team. We use this ethos throughout our work bringing people together from all walks of life to hear each other, listen and understand one another to create that same feeling of togetherness that we feel when we cheer on the mighty Millers.

“We are honoured to be part of the Fair Shot campaign and can’t wait to kick off next season with our fans playing side by side with Fair Shot FC. We hope that through playing the game they love, they will also hear each other, listen and feel that sense of togetherness, because we truly believe, like our fans, forever together, forever proud.”

The Fair Shot FC players have been selected from Refugee Council’s Youth Connect project and grassroots organisations who run football programmes across Essex, Surrey and Preston. They will be led by coach, David Simmons who runs Changing Lives FC, based in Harlow, Essex, the only competitive refugee football team in the UK.

He said: “Football is the world's game. In changing rooms up and down the country multiple languages will be spoken, with players from different countries and with different backgrounds. Despite that, they are united in their passion for football and the common language it provides.

“Each player in our Fair Shot squad has had to overcome many challenges, finding themselves away from their homes, sometimes without their families, in order to find safety. Football has helped them rebuild their lives here, bringing them friendships, a sense of joy and belonging.

“The pitch is a place where every player is equal. We hope that with Fair Shot we can use the power of football and the shared fan experience to show that there is far more that unites us than divides. Everyone deserves be treated with fairness and compassion, no matter where they come from. Everyone deserves a fair shot."

David will be assisted by Liubov Liushnenko, a refugee from Ukraine, who now plays for AFC Sudbury Women’s First Team and coaches with Changing Lives. She said: “I travelled alone to the UK after war broke out in Ukraine. Life was hard, but playing football has changed my life here. My team have become more like a family to me.

“I personally understand what football can bring to the players of Fair Shot FC. Football is about fairness, and this is something I have felt from the British people who have welcomed me here. I hope this can be extended to everyone, who through no fault of their own have had to leave their homes to find peace here in the UK.”

Fair Shot is supported by the Refugee Council and Sport Relief, a fundraising campaign run by the charity Comic Relief. Join at fairshot.org.uk