The day before yesterday I had the opportunity to interview Duncan Riddle the head of community at Aston Villa FC for trax16. My main interest was to explore further the link between Aston Villa and their deal with Acorns children's hospice in the light of our World To Rights project and to explore any possibilities for future projects. I was both amazed and impressed how much the club, from staff through players and fans, are involved in supporting, visiting and raising money for acorns and how involved the club is in reaching out to their local community .
When I asked Duncan,Why invest in acorns? Why not another charity somewhere else? his response was that Villa are committed to the local community, especially as most of their support comes from the local area around the ground. Among other things they are also running a project with the NHS to educate young people about obesity and provide a full time school for disabled young people to get qualifications to get into work.
I find it impressive that a group of footballers and their supporters can impact and share their skills beyond just football with their local community. If football is the religion of people in the UK then have football clubs become the churches? I think Aston Villa's example is a challenge for every congregation up and down the country. And what drives them to do it? It seems they must have instilled in them a moral obligation from some time in the past!
In the winter of 1873/4, the cricketers of Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel, Aston, Birmingham, formed a football club to provide recreation during the winter period. The irony is that Aston Villa a child of the church has now grown up to show her what she should be doing. For the whole interview listen to next month's trax16.
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