Timely Reminder of the Depth of our Impact

Friday 12th September 2025 marked the return of the SSA Cup competition to our annual calendar following a number of years hiatus. Sponsored by our good friends at Rhodian Wealth Management the event, forming part of our Twenty-Year celebrations, saw teams from our sponsors, regional centres and graduates from our programmes take part in a fiercely fought football competition, but the day turned out to be so much more than just a sporting contest.

In summary, Rhodian Wealth Management, were the victors, taking home the Sean Priestley Trophy progressing through the competition with a 100% record. Rhodian have been an official sponsor of Street Soccer Academy’s community based education programmes for a number of year’s and their involvement in the tournament allowed management and staff from their company to interact with current and past service users to gain an understanding of the issues their support has been helping us address.

Teams from our community-based regional centres took part in the tournament allowing current service users to interact with lads from other areas, encouraging a sense of community and a better understanding of belonging to something of significance. In addition to these teams a squad made up of invited ‘Ambassadors’ also took part in the tournament. This team was made up of lads that have previously completed either or both of our Custody/Community programmes and who have gone on to establish for themselves a sustainable lifestyle. To have lads from this team spend time with current service users to share testimonies and give out the overall feeling that, regardless of current issues, there is light at the end of the tunnel was encouraging to see and hear.

There were some major highlights during the day, including:-

• 2 hours of competitive football without the need for a single caution.

• A visit from the new SSA Chair, Dave Kruczek, lending a hand in whatever tasks were needed to be done

• The ex-service users who, although unable to play, came along to show their support.

• Sarah and Katy ( Head of Education, Work & Skills and Communications Manager at HMP Forest Bank) spending the day with us to meet up with graduates of our programme and to meet again lads they had both personally invested in through their current job roles.

• Testimony from Shaun (name changed) about his journey from custody to community and how with the support of Street Soccer Academy he is now a settled family man running his own business. Shaun’s’s journey was recognised with him being formally accepted as a Fellow of Street Soccer Academy.

And finally, a story of Mark (name changed), a graduate of our custody programme in North Wales from a number of years ago. An individual who on graduating our programme decided he needed to turn his life around and was willing to work hard to achieve this goal. Working as a cleaner on a caravan park in North Wales, Mark maintained contact with Street Soccer Academy, occasionally visiting us up here in Manchester to touch base and receive ongoing mentoring from our staff. As a graduate of our programmes Mark was selected as a candidate to play on the ambassadors team for the Street Soccer Cup, with the expectation that the distance to his home would make his participation unlikely. To our amazement Mark made the effort to join us on the day and following a journey reminiscent of the movie Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Mark took his place on the field and won the hearts of our staff with his wholehearted approach as a goalkeeper. Mark’s story is one of many similar stories of lads who have turned their lives around with the support of Street Soccer Academy and it was great to see many represented at this event and to hear the conversations of lives restored going on all day.

The Street Soccer Cup has been one of our flagship events ever since we first hosted it back in 2008, but reinstating it back into our calendar to celebrate twenty-years since our first origins was a timely reminder that we are about so much more than a game of football. The impact on the lives of so many young men, some of who would no longer consider themselves young, goes much deeper than just sport. For some, our intervention has been life-saving and we appreciate every single individual who takes the time to stay connected with us to feed back into the family to provide motivation for those who come after.

To our sponsors, partner agencies and all varieties of our stakeholders we extend our gratitude and appreciation for the support we receive in carrying out our work, fully acknowledging that without their support we probably would be talking about just a game of football. We are sure you will agree however, as part of an integrated network, the results are truly inspiring and we appreciate the part we get to play in the restoration of people’s lives.