From the Cradle to the Grave.

People view professional football clubs through the profile of their first teams. But a football club is so much more than that. Often, the club is a community open to helping different types of people. The question is, what exactly do they do for the local communities where they are based and which groups do they support? This article focuses on how Bristol's two professional football clubs (Bristol City and Bristol Rovers) support young and old across the city.

Photo: Eddy Martin

Chris Wade is a Project Development Operations Manager at Bristol Sport (the organisation that Bristol City is part of). He organises support at 70 different schools across Bristol and the South West and there are about 50 members of staff that do this. Bristol Sport offer mainly school PE, mentoring and sports education programmes.

Bristol Sport supports a range of diverse communities. They work with the most disadvantaged children in 5 key wards of Bristol which have the highest level of IMD (indicators of multiple deprivations). Chris said they are "really trying to target those that need our support the most to live and lead active, healthy and happy lives."

Bristol Sport help children to achieve the recommended twice weekly 60 minutes of exercise. Bristol Sport supports children to lead active and healthy lives at school and at home by teaching about sleep and healthy diets. Chris said this "Contributes to success inside and outside the classroom."

On 4 May, Bristol Sport organised an event called the Celebration of Sport. They invited 700 nine year olds to Ashton Gate from 20 schools they partner with. Chris said "It was an amazing experience for the kids" and how he noticed "their faces beaming when they were coming into the stadium."

Chris went on to say it was "inspirational for those kids to go and pursue a sport and follow sport even more". It was obviously a great experience for the children to remember and take with them in the future.

Simon Field is a local teacher whose school (Ashley Down Primary School) was involved in the event. He said of Bristol Sport, "They've been with the school for 7 or 8 years."

Simon then mentioned the education programmes they run for the school and said "They are brilliant." Bristol Sport run programmes for pupils at the school such as newly arrived refugees from Afghanistan. Simon felt that Bristol Sport has had a big impact on the children in his school as "it gives the children the aspiration".

Simon said that Bristol Sport use their after school clubs to identify and guide potential future sports stars. "It can push kids on to more bigger and better things," he added.

Photo: Eddy Martin

Photo: Ian Noble (used with permission)

Bristol City fan Ian Noble has been supported by his team by taking part in the Fit Robins group which is aimed at helping older people to lose weight. This is a series of 12 different sessions aimed at encouraging people to exercise more. The hope now is they will also run ongoing sessions for people who have already completed the course. But this has become a problem with Ian explaining how it's "dependent on funding which is an ongoing issue for lots of the work of the Bristol City Foundation." These projects include walking exercises, football and Slim to Win. Ian isn't currently participating in these but says "I intend to join when I retire early next year."

Ian reiterated how much Fit Robins has helped him, with how he now has "some targets for exercise which I didn't have before".

It has also helped Ian's mental health. By being on this course, he says "I have got to know other people on the course which has been a benefit, and just the change of scene every week has been great mentally." Ian said that some groups continue to meet after completion of the course. Ian's hope for the future is to join the walking football group when he retires.

Will Dixon is Head of Inclusion for Bristol Rovers. Bristol Rovers offer a free football provision to support young people from ages 8 to 18 called 'Premier League Kicks'. They offer specific sessions for Primary Boys, Primary Girls, Secondary Girls, a disability specific session and a general young persons session. These sessions offer opportunities such as coaching qualifications, mentoring, work experience and workshops such as First Aid.

The group were visited by Paul, who Will said "Is a Bristol Rovers fan and he spent 22 years in prison . He's come in 2 times to speak to our participants about knife crime and drugs." Will wants to "steer them away from that and show them that there are opportunities out there."

The plan in the future is to expand into more areas than just Lockleaze Sports Centre where they are currently based. The dream is for them to have a Bristol Rovers Community Grassroots Team and to get more kids to join.

Photo: Eddy Martin

Adam Tutton is the CEO of Bristol Rovers Community Trust. Adam explained that one of the ways Bristol Rovers supports older people in the community is through a project called 'Extra Time'. This was set up 8 years ago and has been funded by the club for the last six years. Its goal is to engage with over 65 year olds in a social and physical way. Extra Time takes place at the Memorial Stadium weekly. About 25 people come along to do a weekly activity based around physical or mental health. Adam said "They have a coffee, a slice of cake, bit of a catch up and we'll do some games."

As well as Extra Time, other mental and physical health projects run by Bristol Rovers include Fit Pirates, Recovery through Sport and Walking Football. These all help participants socially, with the Bristol Rovers 2023 Impact Report stating that 86% of Extra Time participants saying they felt more socially connected after the group. 100% of walking footballers agreed their health and well being had improved after attending the sessions. From a physical standpoint, 92 adults registered to take part in a free 12 week Fit Pirates health programme.

These sessions aim to tackle loneliness. During the pandemic, the club introduced a Tackling Loneliness project delivering food parcels and arranging garden visits. This work was recognised with an EFL award.

Rovers want to continue this work by adding more weekly sessions. They also want to buy more games equipment such as Boccia and a disability version of curling as Adam said "it tends to work well with older people."

Photo: Eddy Martin

To conclude, both of Bristol's football clubs support people of different ages in their city and view this as an important part of their role.

From the Cradle to the Grave.

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