Mental Health football tournament looks to tackle stigma with first event at University of South Wales

By Ethan Harris

THE ‘Time2Talk’ football tournament run by students from the University of South Wales looked to tackle the stigma surrounding mental health. 

The message of the inaugural event, which happened on Sunday, focused on raising awareness through the power of football.

Organisers chose the name in an effort to help those suffering in silence to come forward and talk. One of them, Sam Morris, explained why the tournament was so important.

“I’ve worked with mental health football for the past two years,” he explained.

“When we heard we had to run an event, it’s a big talking point in all sports now mental health, so we as a group felt that it would be a good event to run and put it under the university name.

“It is well know that participating in physical activity has a positive impact on physical and mental health.

“It seemed to be a great time to introduce a mental health tournament aiming to stop the silence and raise the awareness of speaking out about problems.”

The tournament attracted seven teams of mixed genders on the day, with the Wrexham Inclusion FC side travelling over 127 miles to star alongside others from across the country.

The players, who were all of different abilities, were keen to raise awareness of mental health.

With three trophies up for grabs, sides were in the mix for a Champions League, Europa League and best player prize.

The ‘Street Football Wales Dons’ took home the Champions League trophy, with the ‘Wrexham Yellows’ taking the Europa League prize back to North Wales.

The best player award went to Newtown’s Brandon Ed, with charity ‘Time to Change’ linking in on the day to help the campaign and present trophies and awards to all participants.

According to the Football Association, football can help by improving social inclusion and physical health, which can be more difficult for those with mental health issues.

Organiser Morris was happy with how the tournament ran, stressing the importance of holding events focusing on these important issues surrounding mental health, and how football can help achieve this.

“It was an absolutely brilliant success, we’ve had seven teams from all across Wales, from Wrexham all the way down to Cardiff,” Morris said.

“We’ve had over 70 participants, so it’s been an absolutely cracking day.

Morris was thrilled with the efforts of the Wrexham sides in particular, with the North Wales contingent travelling for several hours to make it on the day.

“It just makes it worth it,” he continued.

“They travelled down since six or seven this morning, so their efforts will be well recognised,

“It just shows how far we’ve grown with our event from only having four teams, to now having seven, and with Wrexham joining it’s really good to see in the end.”

Organisers Sam Morris, Jacob Newman, Jamie Griffin and Oliver Darlington were happy with their student project, thanking those who took part in the day.