Mansfield Town extend football sessions for local asylum seekers
Refugees are being invited to take part in weekly sessions at Field Mill
Last updated 7th Jun 2023
Nottinghamshire Police are giving asylum seekers "a Mansfield welcome", by putting on football matches at Field Mill.
They've teamed up with Mansfield Town's Community Trust to offer the sessions, that've become so popular that the initiative's being extended until Christmas, and staff are hoping more refugees will take part.
The weekly matches, taking place on the grounds of Field Mill, are designed to help the asylum seekers with their physical and mental wellbeing - while they wait to hear their asylum status.
"A Mansfield welcome"
PC Kevin Marshall, beat manager for Mansfield and a life-long Mansfield Town fan, said: “We’ve been visiting the hotel on a regular basis just to make sure everything is okay.
“We’ve had absolutely no trouble down there but wanted to make ourselves known to the guys and explain that we are here to help everyone living and working in the town.
“We noticed they weren’t really doing a lot with their time or getting the exercise they needed and wanted to do something to help them.
Gary Shaw, of the Mansfield Town Community Trust, said: “The police approached ourselves to see if we could offer them anything so we gladly opened our doors to weekly football sessions where they can come and enjoy the world game.
“Our staff organise the sessions and timings, and we are happy with the number of participants that attend weekly.
We have piloted the sessions since mid March and now have extended the provision to Christmas.
“This project falls into our category of Mental Health and Wellbeing delivery, and we are looking to expand on this as we are currently in talks with other Refugee and Asylum Seekers groups to see if they would like to attend too.”