Sports Editor Joel Lim highlights the impact of Bloomsbury Football Foundation and explores the transformative role of sport in supporting young people.
For most of us, a football game is something sandwiched between the hustle and bustle of schoolwork, a reason to catch up with old friends and the occasional friendly 11-a-side with fellow football enthusiasts at our neighbourhood pitch. It is a way for us to stay fit, stay in touch with friends or escape the stresses of everyday life.
However, for many young people, football can be much more than that. With organisations like Bloomsbury Football Foundation, the game becomes a means for social intervention, transforming the lives of young people with the magic of sports. With them, football becomes highly accessible, inspirational and an all-round quality use of time.
Bloomsbury Football Foundation
In today’s world, young people often find themselves in the firing line of a digital age mired with issues like high crime rates and growing class-based inequalities. Growing up in such a climate has had profound impacts on the development of young Londoners. Challenges such as a growing mental health epidemic, child poverty and increasingly mean streets have been the talking point of late, stymying the healthy development of young people all across London.
“We believe football is so magical because it’s something that everyone loves. It’s a place to go, a way to meet people from different backgrounds, a game that teaches you to win, lose, and communicate. It builds confidence and teamwork, and provides adult role models in the form of a coach. If you were to design the ideal social intervention, it would look something like football.” – Charlie Hyman, Founder of Bloomsbury Football Foundation
Bloomsbury Football Foundation is an organisation that has pledged to alleviate these issues. As a haven for young people interested in football, their objective is to provide fun, affordable and meaningful sessions. Started in 2018, Bloomsbury Football Foundation now engages over 6500 young Londoners every week, supported by 60 full-time equivalent staff.
They offer not only consistent footballing sessions hosted at highly accessible locations but also financial support schemes for low-income households. To find out more about the organisation and their good work, Roar recently visited its headquarters to speak with its founder, Charlie Hyman.
Breaking Down Barriers
As Nelson Mandela once said, “Sport has the power to change the world”. Few things in the world can empower all like playing sports can, regardless of class, background and culture. Yet, there exist many barriers in today’s London that unfortunately prevent many young Londoners from accessing sports, the biggest of which is cost. Given that a third of young people in London live in poverty, for many of them, even the seemingly small financial costs of accessing sports may serve as barriers to participation.
Bloomsbury Football Foundation recognised that helping young people overcome the cost is necessary to encourage participation. The organisation’s key objective is thus to offer young people in areas with high indices of child deprivation a chance to reap the benefits of engaging with sports at extremely low costs. Furthermore, their efforts even extend to refugees and asylum seekers, in line with their mission of sharing the magic of football with all. In these sessions, they give participants both a chance to play while providing food and chaperones to make the sessions more enjoyable.
When it comes to participation in sports, stereotypes are also often a common deterrent. In football, Charlie speaks of gender stereotypes that particularly discourage girls from participating. Even with recent strides to break gender barriers, such as the Lionesses’ historic Euros 2025 run, it is significantly more difficult to encourage female participants to join sessions.
Bloomsbury Football Foundation therefore decided to place this as one of its key priorities, given that there are not only fewer opportunities for girls but also greater benefits of getting them involved, such as kickstarting conversations amongst boys and girls, as well as shifting gender stereotypes in sports. Resultingly, their efforts have sparked conversations surrounding the talents and abilities of female athletes amongst boys and girls alike, which has contributed to the breaking down of gender barriers.
How Football Helps Young People
The social impact of football is indubitable in terms of players’ mental well-being. An overwhelming 92% of Bloomsbury Football Foundation’s participants reported feeling more confident post-event. To Charlie, this statistic proves that “football is a great way to deal with many of the evils” at their age, such as a “general lack of positivity” and an increasingly difficult internet to navigate. The “vehicle of football”, therefore, serves as a natural way for participants get a chance to engage in physical activities with others, greatly boosting their mental wellbeing.
In addition, these football sessions also facilitate conversations between participants from different backgrounds – as Charlie puts it, they are effectively a “microcosm of society”. To achieve this, Bloomsbury Football Foundation extends its sessions to anyone, making football inclusive and accessible to all. Notably, they offer programmes that cater to participants who suffer from forms of pan-disabilities, with specialised coaches and equipment to ensure that their sessions remain accessible and fun.
Crucially, Bloomsbury Football Foundation is more than just a feel-good story. They offer opportunities for students to help throughout the year, be it in the office or at one of the football camps. Further, you can also play an active role in building Bloomsbury Football Foundation’s future – connecting them with new partners, expanding its reach, and helping to generate the momentum needed to make an even greater impact.
Bloomsbury Football Foundation’s success should also serve as motivation for all of us to leverage the power of sports starting today. Charlie’s advice is refreshingly simple: say yes and do not be afraid to step out to experience new things. Whether it is the group in your community that you have been thinking about helping for the longest time or an idea that you have for your club or society, go out there and do it today!
