Welcome House opened in 2020 and Maureen was a volunteer there. It was the Spring of 2021 and she noticed that there were a lot of young men who came to Welcome House for a coffee or a chat, they were housed in hotels, waiting for their application for refugee status to be processed and she noticed they were frightened, non-communicative, had no eye contact and very little or no understanding of the English language. They were anxious, trusted no one and were nervous when approached. Each one had a different story, but most of them had fled their homeland because of war and they felt alone and isolated.
After several months when they had learnt to trust Maureen, she asked them “What do you really need?” They answered “We have nothing to do. We need a football. We can then go to the park and kick the ball around” and so Maureen got them a ball and with flips flops on their feet, they proudly went off to the park to kick the football.
Maureen looked at how enthusiastic they were and thought I can do more than this and she set about fulfilling a promise she made to these young men. She told them she would get them playing football, on a pitch and wearing football boots… but how could she achieve that?
Maureen got in touch with the Tigers Trust and in May 2023, the young men were able to attend free football sessions organised by the Tigers Trust and Football Unites and they had also been given permission to play football at the Tigers Trust Arena.
Maureen emailed Richard Dexter at the Tigers Trust and asked ‘How do we form a team, join a league, obtain funding, find a pitch, buy a kit, all we have is loads of enthusiasm, one football and no money!’
In June 2023, Shirley, a volunteer who was responsible for fundraising at Welcome House, came on the scene and Maureen told Shirley how much she wanted to get these young men playing football as it was the one sport they all loved, they all knew the rules and no matter what language they spoke, they could all understand the language of football.
A meeting was arranged with Kayleigh Jackson (Social Inclusion Manager for the Tigers Trust), and attended by Maureen, Shirley, Tracy and Anei (an asylum seeker who has exceptional leadership qualities). Kayleigh arranged a further meeting at Welcome House in mid-August 2023 where she met our footballers. The Tigers Trust then donated 20 new pairs of trainers and Kayleigh put us in touch with Chris Johnson, Participation and Communications Officer for East Riding County Football Association.
In October 2023, Chris Johnson met Anei at Welcome House and brought some footballs (we now had more than one!) t-shirts, cones, and bibs. Chris told us we could form a team and affiliate it with the East Riding County FA.
Shirley then managed to secure a £500 grant from Barclays Sported and this was the turning point in the football story. We now had some money and so it was used to buy some boots, a kit, a ball, and Welcome House created their own football team and the last of the money was used to affiliate the team with the East Riding County FA.
The Team was called Acorn FC because the young man from Welcome House called Anei who was showing such leadership skills, talent and commitment called it after his family name. Anei had fled war torn Sudan and came to Hull seeking Asylum, his family name was Akon, meaning Acorn and he felt it was a new beginning being in Hull and he knew the saying ‘from small Acorns large Oak trees grow’ and he felt this was going to be the story of this newly formed football team.
So we had the kit, the boots, several balls, a place to train, as a local charity had given us the use of a 5 a side pitch to practise on and so the young men started to train 3 times a week.
Chris Johnson arranged our first match on the 19th of November 2023, at Hull University’s 3G pitch. At this stage we had also attracted more young men from Humber View in Ferriby, all wanting to play football and we needed transport to get them to the match. The St Vincent de Paul Society paid for a bus to get them there and back. Anei was coach and manager, and the evening was a culmination of so many people who had made this dream come true.
It was an overwhelming experience for the players, supporters, ERCFA, and East Riding players. No words can describe the meaning of “Active through Football” that evening. Twelve nations and twelve languages were united through football. Commemorative medals were presented to each player by Adam Lowthorpe, the Chief Executive of the East Riding County FA. It was a truly extra-ordinary experience and the young men shone with pride. Acorn FC won 10-2, despite never having played on an 11 a side pitch. The acorn was beginning to germinate.
Then they had a setback as they were told they couldn’t play anymore games without shin pads. We had used all the £500 from the Barclays Sported grant and the players didn’t have shin pads or any money to buy them.
An email was sent to Kayleigh asking for help from the Tigers Trust and the photo below shows Kayleigh presenting Acorn FC with shin pads so they can play their next game. On the 19th of December 2023, Acorn FC played their second match and won 4-3. They were still training on a 5-a-side pitch and so this was only the second time they had played on a full-size pitch.
Money was always a problem and by Autumn 2023 we had run out of all funds. Another of our volunteers from Welcome House, Chris Cuthill, became involved and he and Maureen applied for a grant which included finance for the development of activities. By having faith in us, the Marist Fathers, gave Welcome House the full grant. This can take our team to another level and once again “divine providence” had played a hand. We now have the finances to rent a ground, pay for a referee and most importantly buy them football boots.
Most of our team were still playing in trainers but on the 22nd of January 2024, Anei returned from Sports Direct with 25 pairs of football boots and 22 base tops. Maureen had kept her promise.
On 23rd of January 2024 Kayleigh from the Tigers Trust invited Anei and representatives of the team to the Arena and donated a second football kit. The training sessions were now attracting enough strong players to form another team.
We now had Acorn FC blue team as well as Acorn FC green team.
We were introduced us to Tony Baker, Active Through Football Project Officer for Hull Culture and Leisure Ltd, Tony works closely with the Peel Street Project and is looking to set up some regular fixtures with Acorn FC, Tony is also setting up another FA affiliated football club through Active Through Football which will provide more teams for Acorn FC to play against locally, this could open up a whole new direction for our football team.
On 12th of February 2024, we introduced Tony to Anei, who had now become a very competent manager, trainer, organiser of 82 young men all wanting to play football. Together they have plans for the future.
Tony is going to form several teams from the young men attending the Football Unites Monday sessions and the Wednesday evening Peel Group sessions. He is working towards affiliating these teams in July with the East Riding County FA and together we want to establish a mini football league from teams wanting to play friendly matches in Hull because they are not allowed to join any established league.
This wonderful story is the culmination and determination of one lady, Maureen, and a promise she made. It wouldn’t have possible without the help of all those mentioned, and we are so grateful to everyone who has helped. We are always in need of funds to keep this dream alive, but that small Acorn is well on the way to becoming a Giant Oak Tree.
