We continue our Meet the Volunteer series with the second half of Mat’s own report on his time working with Nations United football.

(Click here for Part 1)

Nations United

Arranging a fun hour of football with one player and, at the time, one injured Mat, was tricky, but we got through it and word soon spread again, and we had a huge influx of players come September. It’s been nearly 40 players each week ever since! The fact we now have all the kit we need really helps and the players are very motivated to come weekly.

We also had two teams enter a tournament over the summer and several friendly games on grass, most recently against Wittering United Reserves down in Bracklesham. I met 15 of the players at the bus station with a few of their fathers, and with the donated money could also pay for their fare to the ground. We then surprised them with brand new stud football boots each, some donated by Wittering Utd, and with their beautiful matchday kit all hung up nicely around the changing room, it was a wonderful moment. 

The game was a huge success and we’ll be arranging more in the new year. The games also serve as an audition to get signed by Wittering United for next season. Wittering have been a huge support, helping with their international clearance and paperwork etc, and it’s been great to go and watch some of our old players on a Saturdays.

2025 is a big year – I turn the big 4-0 and we have some exciting plans for the team – my main one is to keep fundraising and eventually, with consent of course, take them to a real football game. I am hoping Portsmouth or someone similar might gift us some tickets. I am also planning a friendly game against my work team sometime in the summer, and taking them in a minibus up to Witney in the beautiful Cotswolds for the day – it’d be quite the experience for the lads!

Also a big thanks to Gurjit Purewal who was a big part of the post-summer restart, shuttling players from outside of the city. Since then, he has been chief supporter and played quite a few times too! Having extra friendly faces there each week really supports, not only the players, but myself, Mike, Heather and Ben too, so we welcome any volunteers who want to come along.

Thanks for all the support SiC gives to Nations United – Premier League here we come…!!

Mat.