Liverpool Homeless Football Club have hosted their second tournament in their “Spirit of Merseyside League” for racism awareness.
The charity, founded in 2007, aims to help vulnerable people in the community to achieve their full potential through sport.
Each month they hold an event to raise awareness for a different issue within the community.
Match day two focused on racism awareness, with numerous teams coming together to play 5-a-side matches.
According to Home Office statistics there were 98,799 incidents of racial hate crimes in England and Wales in 2023/24.
With these statistics in mind, Liverpool Homeless FC decided to dedicate match day two to racism awareness.
Ray Smith, a founder of the club, said: “We started 18/19 years ago from humble beginnings and since we’ve become LHFC.
“It’s not just about homelessness, it’s about mental health, addiction, we help everyone that comes here.
“We’ve done something about racism today and things about addiction and all sorts of things going on.
“We have people from all over Merseyside here today from different agencies who support people in different ways, homelessness, addiction and we all get together and the common bond is football.”
The message of the tournament is to use football as a common ground and bring awareness to important issues.
John Finnigan, CEO of Liverpool Homeless FC, emphasised the importance of the tournament for the community.
He said: “I think it’s important for us to create a safe space for our members to come along and play football, have something to eat, make new friends.
“Some of the football can be quite competitive and other teams just come to have a game of football.
“While our members are here, they’re not out causing anti-social behaviour, they’re not taking drugs, they’re not drinking.
“It’s a safe place for them to come along and leave their problems at the gate.”
Liverpool Homeless FC aim to raise awareness on various issues with previous events focusing on Knife Crime Awareness, Ovarian Cancer Awareness, and Women Against Domestic Abuse Tournament.
(featured image by Clare Tweed)
