Northampton homeless football match to give 'sense of belonging' back to players

Pictured: Kit sponsor Matt Owen, director of MOSounds, with Lee Cowley, team coach.

The football team is an initiative being led by Project 16:15, a homeless outreach group which started as an idea on Facebook by Stan Robertson.

As part of this project Mr Robertson has built up a rapport with many rough sleepers and for two years he has hand-delivered a cooked breakfast every morning to the homeless community in Abington Street.

Meet the man delivering breakfasts to rough sleepers every morning in Northampto...

Pictured: Kit sponsor Matt Owen, director of MOSounds, with team coach Lee Cowley and some of the football team players. The photos are taken at Goals who also sponsor and support the team by allowing them free use of all their facilities every Saturday morning.

On Monday, May 27, the homeless community will be kicking off their first football match at Northampton Saints' ground at 11am.

Admission on the door is £3 per person and tickets are limited to the first 200 people who apply, due to stewarding and safety reasons. All proceeds will go towards the homeless charity of choice - and players have asked to support local mental health services.

Tickets can be applied for through the Facebook group here.

Mr Robertson said: "We will be building on this over the coming months and looking to play games against other teams, many of which have already come forward and ask to play.

"For the guys themselves, this is giving them something else to focus on, a sense of belonging, of worth, of value and dignity.

"Project 16:15 sees this as us partnering with the homeless community, to support them, to highlight their desire to change the image that many have of them, by stepping out to support others."