The Impact of Football on Personal Identity

To many young people, football is more than a sport, it’s an identity.

A Footballer in School

The ‘popular’ ones in school were always the ones who played football, and the ‘most popular’ were the ones who were good at football. It gave you a status that no-one else really had, the fact that you could actually make something out of the sport that everyone worshipped.

Whilst it was nice, it also carried a lot of pressure. It meant that when going to trials at academies, you were not just playing for yourself, but your whole friendship group and those who believed in you. And when that trial didn’t go successfully, you’d have to slowly let people know that it wasn’t the chance everybody thought it was.

And this is for someone who only trialled at academies, but never even signed. Being signed carries another level of identity as people believe you’re pretty much ‘there’.

Being Released

For many, what’s left at the end is a bunch of training kit with only memories to think of. Having spoken to many friends who were released, one of the hardest things is acceptance. Acceptance that your life has suddenly changed and your identity is shattered to pieces. You now have to apply for jobs that you never thought you would, and only a few people remain interested in your career.

It would be fair to say that there is inadequate support for released players. They go from being schooled and supported everyday to instantly having nowhere to go every day. Coaches and friends you made over years remain in the environment whilst you’re left with nothing. Clubs have underestimated just how much that can affect a young person’s mental health. A released friend told me that they felt any support given was out of pity and a box-ticking exercise, rather than actually caring for him.

But for anyone who has gone through setbacks or been released, it is those moments that shape who you become. And, you are much more than just a footballer.

Mentoring in these situations is so important to help young players understand that they are so much more than just footballers, and that these setbacks shape who they become in future.