SAMH was honoured to support the Scottish
Homeless World Cup Team as they battled in Brazil to
try to regain the trophy they won in 2007. The tournament was
eventually won by the home team, but Scotland did us proud.
They did so well, in fact, that their match
against the England team - which they won 11-10, with an
amazing last-seconds goal - has been chosen as the first "Homeless
World Cup Classic" match. The HWC are asking the public to vote
for their other favourite matches - from 2003 to 2010 - to be
dubbed with the title.
The "Homeless World Cup Classic" title is well-deserved. The
team, with former SAMH service user David Stone in goals,
got off to an incredible start, winning all three of their opening
games. With decisive victories over the Netherlands, Namibia and Hungary, Scotland was top of their
group going into their game against Belgium. Sadly they
couldn't keep up that form, eventually losing 11-9 in a dramatic
game but still holding onto second place in their preliminary
group.
Their next game against Russia was also tight but resulted in a
6-4 defeat for Scotland. A win against Italy was followed by defeat to Poland.
Victory against the USA was followed by a loss to South Africa on
penalties, and then a spectacular 11-10 victory over England. That match was described by one
witness as "one of the greatest games in the history of the
tournament"
SAMH member Iain McGill was a referee at the
tournament and diligently blogged every day, exclusively for SAMH,
on his experiences: read his dispatches here.
To find out more read the impressions of Danielle Batist, who covered
the tournament for the Street News Service and took several of the
pictures in our event gallery, or watch the official Homeless
World Cup video to find out more. You can also read Danielle's blog about the whole event.
Before the team headed out to Brazil, we went along to show
our support at their final training session. The players were
in good spirits and all looking forward to their Brazil adventure.
The team got some good media coverage: see what the Sun and Local News Glasgow had to say about it.
We're especially delighted to be involved with the team because
SAMH is a major provider of services for homeless people, as well
as people with mental health problems. We work to help
homeless people because the loneliness and uncertainty that
stems from being homeless can really affect your psychological
wellbeing.
Our involvement with the team also ties in brilliantly with our
Get Active programme, which aims to improve mental health and
well-being through sport and physical activity. Back in May, we
launched a £1 million
fundraising target for Get Active, with the help of Sir Chris
Hoy and Ruby Wax. That's how much we believe in the power of sport
to improve mental health: so no wonder we jumped at the chance
to help Scotland's bid to win back the Homeless World Cup.
All of our services help people like David Stone rebuild their
self-esteem: and what bigger confidence boost could there be than
being chosen to represent your country? We were proud to be
involved: and we can't wait for next year!