Matt Maher: New sponsor to help all non-league football
Football can often be a brutal business, particularly so at a time when many clubs are being forced to tighten their belts more than ever before.
Yet in one corner of the Midlands, they are looking to do things a little differently.
When Kidderminster Harriers last week announced the Kaleidoscope Plus Group as their new shirt sponsor, it drew acclaim from far and wide.
But their partnership with the West Bromwich-based mental health and well-being charity is about far more than a logo on a shirt. Should all go to plan, it has the potential to benefit not only Kidderminster but the wider non-league game, a place where the pressures of the sport can be particularly severe yet often overlooked.
While the coronavirus pandemic has unquestionably brought the issue of mental health into greater focus for everyone, the foundations of Harriers’ link-up with Kaleidoscope were already laid back in January when Monica Shafaq, the charity’s chief executive, was appointed a non-executive director.
Harriers chief executive Neil Male was already a non-executive director at Kaleidoscope and keen to establish closer links.
“We are trying to do things a bit differently at Kidderminster,” explained Male, who joined the club – initially on an interim basis – after it was taken over by Halesowen businessman Richard Lane last October.
“Of course the main focus is on being successful on the pitch and we will do everything we can to achieve that.
“But a football club is about much more than that and if we can do things in a positive way then it is all the better.
“It’s a tough business where people make decisions, particularly when it comes to players, which can severely impact the life and well-being of someone else. Those decisions have to be made and part of this is about making sure we also offer the support for people to be able deal with it.”
Male has first-hand experience of just how quickly fortunes can change in football. It is 25 years since he sat crying on a beach in Torquay, his dreams of a professional career in tatters at the age of just 19 due to a back injury.
Those memories have never left him and have meant that while he has gone on to enjoy success as a director of the security firm GMS, mental health has remained an issue close to his heart.
The illness is indiscriminate and can affect anyone at anytime. There is an understanding, however, that Kidderminster are operating in an environment, right at the foot of the professional game, where the psychological strains can be particularly acute yet also easily forgotten.
“I think a lot of people might just look at it and think it is only non-league football,” says Male. “But a lot of the lads we sign started out in academies at big clubs with the aspiration and belief they were going right to the top.
“When things don’t go to plan and they get released it’s a big emotional strain, as well as a financial impact too.
“I’ve talked a lot to people at the experiences I had at Torquay. When I suffered my injury and my career was taken away it felt like the whole world was falling apart. Back then people never really considered the mental side of things.
“A lot of players at our level are looking to rebuild, looking for a route back. With that comes big pressure but while the Premier League and EFL have worked to set up support systems in recent years there isn’t really anything like that in non-league.
“We’ve got a vision of how we want the club to operate. Though times have been very tough due to the pandemic we had other options in terms of sponsors. But this is the route we wanted to go down.”
From Kaleidoscope’s perspective, the sponsorship deal with Harriers is an opportunity to increase profile and raise awareness of its work. As part of the link-up, the charity will hold a series of workshops at the club while making their services available to any player or member of staff who requests it.
“This is not just about having our logo on the front of a shirt,” explains Shafaq, who is also a member of the Premier League’s equality standards panel. “This is not just about raising issues but taking action as well.
“We want to create an environment where people know it is OK to say they are not OK. We want to give people the confidence that if they have a concern or a problem, no matter the nature, there is someone you can turn to.
“It’s not just for the fans or the players but staff as well. We want to create a family-type environment.
“The sport can be very cut-throat, but we want to change that perception.
“There are always challenges, in any sport. This is about letting people know how they can deal with those challenges.”
The long-term plan, meanwhile, is for Kaleidoscope to eventually work with other non-league clubs and potentially the National League as a whole.
“Our long-term ambition is to work with the National League, in a similar way MIND work with the EFL at the moment,” explains Shafaq. “There is a lot more understanding than there was previously about mental health in sport.
“But it is one thing talking about it and saying you understand and it is another thing doing something and changing the processes. That is where things might be lacking at the moment. That is where we want to change things and be that flagship. We want to say to clubs you can look after your people and still succeed.”
