Category Archives: Football

“The Soul of Football” – Book

The Soul of Football Book by Mark Chester

 

Soul of Football

Cloning Jamie Carragher

Lionel Messi’s mistakes

It’s all Wayne Rooney’s fault

Find out more about The Soul of Football http://ow.ly/GnSSz

Read a sample chapter http://bit.ly/1EZitOK

“This book gets beyond the surface of football, and reminds us that we need to get beyond the surface of life, too.”
Revd John K. Boyers, Chaplain, Manchester United

Buy a copy of ‘The Soul of Football’ on BRFonline http://www.brfonline.org.uk/9781841016542/

BRF, 15 The Chambers, Vineyard, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 3FE, England

Dir: 07967 688 610 Fax: 01865 319701

Ambassadors Football (nee in Sport)

Ambassadors in Sport: www.ambassadorsfootball.org

In 1990, 3 overseas amateur footballers who had relocated to the northern England town of Bolton started a football team by placing an advert in a local newspaper. From these humble beginnings a movement started that is ‘Ambassadors in Sport’ which has grown not only nationally across the UK (offices in Bolton and London) but to over 15 countries globally. The ambitions of these founders have always extended beyond the field itself; their Christian faith, ethos and values drove them to go beyond the game and actually seek to ‘bring hope through football’. Since becoming a UK registered charity (No 1055422) and a limited company (No 3172553) in 1997; AIS has aimed to be facilitators in mobilizing people and churches to participate in the vision to bring holistic transformation in individuals and communities through football. AIS want to serve the football community with excellence which means that Ambassadors want to support, help, encourage, include, partner, resource, focus on others and be big hearted towards the people involved at home and abroad in the football culture and community. AIS especially want to stand alongside those (particularly children/young people) who are poor, marginalized or vulnerable. Generally the Christian beliefs and foundations of AIS will be demonstrated in the character (e.g. integrity, trust, grace, Christ-like etc) of AIS workers and the way they connect (e.g. inclusiveness, respect for individuals, family etc) with others within the UK and overseas. Distinctively AIS seek to value Innovation, Team, Football and Church. Therefore in approach and attitude; AIS want to value Church by putting it at the heart of its tactics to be agents of transformation in the football community. The primary way in which this tactic will be worked out is to envision, equip and enable churches to engage effectively with the football culture. AIS wants to be intentional about tying in as much of its work (e.g. in schools, prisons, youth offenders, detached youth work, churches, youth clubs, teams, leagues, tours, tournaments, soccer schools, soccer weekends, football in the community and amongst the marginalised e.g. ‘Kids at Risk and homeless football projects) into local expressions of community i.e. church and football clubs.

Ambassadors Name Change

Following a 2 year international review and a global leaders summit in January 2013, there has been unanimous support for the name of ‘Ambassadors in Sport’ to be changed to ‘Ambassadors Football’ by the leaders of all the Ambassadors works around the world plus staff and trustees in the UK. The explanation for this change is that:

  • We are often asked what sports apart from football we do and therefore want to clearly identify ourselves as specialists within our chosen sport of football
  • We don’t want to be confused with other sports ministry organisations and so this name change will bring clarity to the wider sports ministry movement about what Ambassadors does
  • We wish to communicate from our name a greater inclusiveness and sense of “movement” both in the UK and across the world as we work both in and through football
  • We wanted to retain the name ‘Ambassadors’ as this is how we are known plus it is part of our God given calling (2 Corinthians 5:20) and DNA to be God’s ‘good news’ messengers to football loving people

Ambassadors run the very popular London Churches Football Tournament held at the Indoors 3g Astroturf Soccerdome by the O2.

The 6-a-side tournament has expanded to 2 days this year:

Sat 3 May Youths: U10s, U12s, U14s, U16s (Featuring Linvoy Primus)

Mon 5 May (Bank Holiday): Men & Women

Check out the entry form below

LCFT Entry Form 2014

Christians in Football

Christians in Football: www.christiansinfootball.org

Christians in Football, formed in 1990, is the National Network Association of Christian-based Football Clubs. It co-ordinates an effective approach of envisioning, encouraging, enabling and training key leaders in Football Ministry, both in Church Leagues and Christian-based Teams that play in Secular Leagues. In 1992, CIF started and continues to organise the National Christian Cup and introduced another National Competition, the National Christian Trophy, 3 years ago. For 12 years, the National Finals have been held on Professional grounds. CIF has run 26 European Mission Tours since 1991.

Call:
Email: go@christiansinfootball.org

Cross the Line – Football

Cross the Line

www.xtheline.co.uk

Here at Cross The Line, we are a bunch of faith driven ’20-something’ writers, reporting hot off the press football news making Jesus known!

Our website includes a number of features, including generic football articles as well as a “faith and football” section where we give our readers a chance to read football stories with a different light. We look to combine the latest football news with the Christian faith; giving you a chance to relate everyday stories in the world of football with Christian beliefs.

We also have a podcast where Ollie Baines leads the latest discussion on all things faith and football. More recently, we have added a “player interview” feature, where Cross The Line chats to a number of professional Christian footballers. Plus we offer a testimonies section where people can send in their stories of how they experienced God through football.  We would love for you to get involved –

please Follow us on Twitter @crossthelinex_

please Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cross-The-Line/319850071508603?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

or, email us at crosstheline321@gmail.com

Football – Screenings

Football – Screenings
Watching big football matches presents churches with an opportunity to reach out to the local community and particularly to men.

If you plan to have a big screen event at church then these are the key
things you need to know.

• The church needs a TV licence
• No admission charge is allowed however you can ask for donations
for food etc.
If this is all too much and you are not aiming at a big crowd here are a
couple of alternatives.
• Invite some men to your home to watch the match and share
refreshments!
• Team up with a local pub which will be showing the match and provide
free food or snacks.

Football Ministry Training

Ambassadors Football stage training days for folks interested in learning more about Football Ministry.  We would also love experienced football ministry practitioners to come and share their secrets and mistakes with others so we can all learn from each other!

For more info contact Steve Read on sread@ambassadorsfootball.org

The last training day was  at the Soccerdome by the O2 in London. Six different football ministries based in the UK shared their experiences and knowledge and the feedback was very positive. Dan Owen from Ambassadors Football shared about the new Community Cage Franchise project that helps Churches connect with local youths especially; Chris Roe, Crystal Palace Chaplain shared some insights into Chaplaincy in the professional game; Tom Rutter from Kick London taught on youth academies; Steve Miles from Christians in Sport shared about supporting Professionals in the game with their faith; Mark Blythe shared 20 years of experience running Church teams and leagues; Linvoy Primus shared about playing in the Premier League for Portsmouth and how he is now called to share the Gospel; James Jaggard of 90+ Ministries spoke about the academy work in the north west and putting football coaches into local schools and churches and highly qualified John Squires of Ambassadors took a coaching session on the pitch with delegates joining in as they wanted to. An amazing day of football ministry.

Contact Steve for more information about the next event sread@ambassadorsfootball.org

Print

Higher Sports

Higher sports horiz new

 

 

Higher Sports is a practical resource to equip any church in any country make a difference in its community with the life changing message of Jesus. The coaching module and the teaching packages are designed in such a way as to enable church personnel to run them without any external help.

Higher Sports is a 6-8 week course for churches and schools involving sports coaching and games together with Christian based teaching. The material for each of these three resources (rugby, football and games) allows for an hour of coaching followed by a ‘team talk’. The drills and coaching skills are clearly set out in the Higher Sports manuals with accompanying diagrams, teaching points and progressions. The implementation of these do not require the Coach to be qualified in the sport but rather to have an enthusiasm and enjoyment for working with young people in the sporting arena.

The resource bag contains all that is necessary to action the coaching and the teaching sessions and allows for Higher Sports to be presented in many forms:

  • As a course lasting several weeks culminating in an Awards Ceremony with a guest speaker from the sporting world
  • As a sports clinic week
  • Part of a summer camp programme
  • ​As the basis of Church’s Holiday Week programme
  • ​Integral part of a school’s Physical Education programme with provision to include delivery of key stage 2 values within the classroom environment
  • Inclusion in a school’s Religious Education programme with extended studies of the ‘team talk’ material

Contact Us:

9, Kepax Gardens, Worcester, England, WR3 7LB, United Kingdom.

Email: info@highersports.org
Office: +44 (0)1677 426347
Mobile: +44 (0)7711 572032

www.highersports.org


Kick London

KICK LONDON is about transforming young people’s lives with God’s love through football, and aims to apply Christian values in a way that combines:

·        Quality sports and football programmes
·        Integrated life skills training

We provide an innovative and engaging programme of sports activities that are set in an encouraging, inclusive, and supportive environment focussing on the holistic learning (physical, social, spiritual, and emotional) of each young person. Kick London was established in the London Borough of Richmond in 2003. It is a company limited by guarantee, and a registered charity.  It is overseen by a Board of Trustees who focus on the work of Kick London as it develops across the whole of the capital city and local management teams in individual London Boroughs.

Our F.A. qualified coaches provide curriculum-integrated sessions in mainstream schools and Pupil Referral Units (for excluded pupils), are engaged in other national and local government programmes for children and young people outside mainstream education. We undertake assemblies, breakfast, lunchtime, and after school clubs in mainstream schools, provide activities for the socially, geographically and physically disadvantaged and support the establishment of local academies providing training and sports skills for all – not just those gifted and talented.

Kick London is making a difference already working with 3,500 young people per week and we are currently seeking funding to support a step change in our organisation and develop a managerial and operations team to facilitate Kick London’s growth to reach 30,000 young people each week by 2012. Website: www.kicklondon.org.uk
Contact details: Mark Anderson, Operations & Development Manager, markanderson@kicklondon.org.uk Kick London, Holy Trinity Church, Sheen Park, Richmond, TW9 1UP

Nat Christian Veterans Football Cup

Nat Vets Cup Logo

An 11-a-side football competition for guys 35+.

For Church based teams across the country.

CUP HISTORY

Winners 2009 Yarm Vineyard Church, North Yorkshire

Winners 2010 Goldhill Baptist Church, Bucks

Winners 2011 & 2014 Stoneleigh Baptist Church, Surrey

Winners 2012 Molesey Community Church, Surrey

Winners 2013 New Life Croydon

Winners 2015 Cornerstone, Gloucs

For more details contact Mark Blythe on mark@mccfc.org.uk

Onside Soccer

Onside Soccer (www.onsidesoccer.com) is a Christian sports outreach charity which specialises in taking groups from the UK to the developing world to set up football coaching with children and young people there.  Working in partnership with local churches, we also engage in social projects and get involved fully in the communities where we are based.  Currently we have established links in Uganda, Ghana and Romania and hope to expand to other destinations soon.  As a charity we have three main aims:

  • to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to the unsaved through sports coaching (mainly football),
  • to contribute to the work of social action projects in targeted areas via the contact of local churches,
  • to disciple and educate tour participants through a structured programme of daily talks, bible studies and practical application focusing on social justice, poverty and international development from a Christian perspective.

To help raise awareness of what we do and to assist with raising funds we also organise European football weekend breaks, giving customers the chance to see some of Europe’s top football teams in action.

Southern Area Christian Football League

This is probably the longest running Church football league in the country, now in it’s 39th season. The SACFL covers mainly south west of London and Surrey. Teams come from the A23 west as far out as Camberley and Guildford. Richmond, Chessington, Molesey, Woking, Staines, Wimbledon, Cheam, Surbiton, Morden, Sunninghill are the main areas.

For the 2015-16 season there are 3 Divisions. Two Divisions are open age adult leagues (ie 16+) and there is a Veterans League for the over 35s.

New teams and players are always welcome. Check out the league website www.sacfl.co.uk and please make contact with the League Secretary with any questions on sacfl-leaguesecretary@hotmail.co.uk

Sportsforce

SPORTSFORCE (www.sportsforceinternational.org) Contact Mark Blythe mark@mccfc.org.uk

Serving Churches through sport. This ministry is set up to help the local church to use sport as an outreach tool. Training and practical support are available. Contact Mark to arrange a meeting with the sporty people in your Church.

The following activities have been initiated:

The National Christian Football Festival – 11-a-side football weekend for church based teams – contact Ambassadors Football 0845 071 4390 www.ambassadorsfootball.org.uk

The National Christian Veterans Football Cup (over 35s) – contact Mark to enter

Football Ministry Conferences – For everyone that loves Jesus & Football – contact Mark

The National Christian Cricket Festival – for church based teams. Now being run by World Sport Ministries contact info@worldsportministries.com

The National Church Golf Cup – contact the Christian Golf Society (david@christiangolfsociety.org.uk)

MISTAKES IN CHURCH FOOTBALL – We’ve made them all so we’ve written a book to prevent you doing the same!

A book to help churches that run football teams for outreach has been released. It is based on the experiences Mark Blythe has had heading up the Molesey Community Church football outreach for over 10 years. Every mistake has been made! To learn from them pick up a copy from www.veriteshop.co.uk (or call 01903 241975) for just £10. Title “FOOTBALL 2 FOOTBALL MINISTRY 3″ ie Football is good but footy ministry is even better!

Church Football Leagues: Mark has held every position whilst serving the longest running church football league in the country (the Southern Area Christian Football League – www.sacfl.co.uk): Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Fixtures Secretary, Information Secretary, Disciplinary Committee member, Results Secretary, Prayer Co-ordinator, Awards Night Organiser, Cup Final Organiser, Procedures writer…. If you need help starting or running a Church League do make contact.

SportsReach (Football & Netball)

SportsReach (www.sportsreach.org.uk) started as CSIL back in the late 80’s when the founder Graham Stamford was challenged to combine his two passions of football and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  He got two teams together to play a game of football and at the end of the match shared the Good News of the Gospel with them.

In 1990 SportsReach was then founded and became a registered charity in 1997 (No. 1065723) and since that point the work has multiplied many times over.  Our offices are at Carnforth, Lancashire and this is where our men’s football league, 5 aside league and ladies netball league are run from.  We also have a ladies football team and a classics (veterans!!) football team. Each team is linked with a local Church and has Christian leaders who will share a Gospel message at each game.

During the spring and summer we organise soccer (7-14 years old) and netball (9-13 years old) schools around the UK.  Always working alongside local Churches wherever we go, our aims are to give the children quality coaching and competitions as well as sharing the gospel.

As well as all this SportsReach takes football teams (both men’s and women’s) and coaching teams out into Europe as well as North America and Africa.  In the Dachstein Valley in Austria, where SportsReach have been taking teams for 18 years we are known as ‘the joy people’.   We always share about the reality of our faith in after game presentations as well as giving out Bibles and literature where appropriate.

SportsReach’s motto is ‘Reaching the world for Christ through sport’.

office@sportreach.org.uk

www.sportsreach.org.uk

Walking Football

Walking Football is possibly the fastest growing form of football in the UK at the moment and probably the slowest too! As the title suggests it is exactly the same as normal footy except it’s a free kick if players run.

This is ideal for folks who dont have the fitness for running or want overly competitive football and yet they love the game. Guys join for the same reason as everyone else – fun, friendship, banter and exercise.

It’s hard not to run in the early stages, especially when a pass is just out of reach and rolls into touch! Quotes “It is amazing, a far greater workout than I expected but great fun”, “I hadn’t kicked a ball for 30 years and I love it”, “I’m 70 and loving every minute”!

For individuals: contact your local County FA to see where Walking Football Sessions are in your area. There are more starting all the time and if County FAs receive enquiries they are more likely to start them up.

For Church groups: Consider setting a group up yourself. For support contact Ambassadors Football who have years of experience helping Churches use football to reach their communities.

www.ambassadorsfootball.org

Tel: 01204 363606

Print

YFC

Youth For Christ. Yfc is passionate about using sport to reach young people with the good news of Jesus. YFC runs mission teams in football, basketball and street football – Kick, Fly and Nomad. If you want to check out details on these teams and how they can help in your local area then please go to our website at www.yfc.co.uk/teams. YFC is very excited about its Cage football and street football pitch, both of which are available to be delivered with your own church or school. Barry Mason is responsible for all the sports ministry in YFC and would love to hear from you with any questions or comments on 07734022443 or barry.mason@yfc.co.uk