Sporting Force

General information

Sporting Force is a registered charity (1169441) designed to help people from the Armed Forces including the Army, Navy and the RAF, both veterans and those newly discharged who are wounded, injured or sick, to re-integrate into civilian life. Its aim is to provide support to a broad range of people; those with serious injuries, those who have been diagnosed with PTSD or other mental health issues and those WIS who are simply finding it difficult to cope with the transition from military to civilian life.
Our new Veteran Hub is opening soon
Ground Floor, The Digital Factory, Durham Way South, Newton Aycliffe, Durham, DL5 6XP with easy access from the A1.

Football is the most popular sport on the planet and the English Premiership probably the most exciting and certainly the most popular, in the world. Football is about passion and commitment - and every club is a like a family.
Sporting Force aims to tap into this distinctiveness to provide those who need it most with an opportunity to work in this unusual environment. Every football club is like a microcosm of society, with a broad range of working opportunities, from catering to security; gardening to marketing. In many ways this environment has similarities to the armed forces - except that every week, millions of ordinary people are on the terraces or in front of a TV screen, sharing the joy – and the pain - of their team.
Tommy Lowther, the founder of Sporting Force is himself an army veteran serving with the 1st Battalion Light Infantry and has also served in the Metropolitan police force in London. Tommy has been involved in football all his life and recently began a league for primary schools in the local area. Through this Tommy has built strong links with Middlesbrough football club, who asked him to be a scout for them. They have readily agreed to pilot his scheme, by giving two people the opportunity of a work placement during the close season of 2015.
Tommy himself has suffered from PTSD and turned to Help for Heroes. Help for Heroes has supported him during a difficult period in his life and given him a new focus – to help others to help themselves, through the passion of football. Help for Heroes has given backing and enormous support to Sporting Force and are providing Tommy with as much help as they can. Help for Heroes will be providing the candidates for the first two placements at Middlesbrough Football Club.
However Sporting Force will need more funding if it is to take this pilot programme at Middlesbrough Football Club, nationwide and throughout all four English leagues.
One of the most important factors in making this scheme work is the availability of transport to and from work, especially for soldiers with serious injuries. Others may simply need some help with travel expenses.
Housing is a major problem for many of the people who go through the doors of Help for Heroes – and perhaps even more so for those who don’t. (Stats of homeless vets here…) Jobs provide wages and wages pay for homes. Sporting Force cannot aim to provide housing but it aims to provide jobs where possible and at the very least a stepping stone. But perhaps most important of all, it will offer a feeling of being part of something again, an element of their previous lives which many ex-forces people miss most of all.
But this is not just about football clubs giving. Never forget that the people they are giving these opportunities to have so much to give themselves. They just need a little help to find their way. Sporting Force aims give that help.