Northampton homeless football match to give 'sense of belonging' back to players
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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.
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Hide AdOn 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.
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."