HOME HELP FOR HEROES
Former Surrey chief MIKE SOPER is behind push to provide housing for sports stars who have fallen on hard times. . .
It does not have to be drink, drugs or gambling. there is the story of a former footballer who turned professional at 18 and played through the 1970s and ’80s, mostly in the third tier, and invested his savings in a sports-shop business.
It proved successful at first and expanded, but crashed in 2008 and he and his family lost their accommodation above the shop. Now in his 60s, he pays £ 700 a month to rent a home in a rundown area.
Another former player worked in football administration and lived in a property supplied through the job, but when he retired he and his wife had to vacate the house and move in with their son.
A former cricketer lost thousands in a business swindle and lost his home in a costly divorce settlement. Now working part-time without a secure income, he is living mostly with friends and family.
there are countless examples among the vulnerable older generation, some of them bereaved and lonely, some of them retired, others still loosely connected to their sports via scouting which often pays nothing more than expenses.
these stories are all too familiar to Mike soper and Paul sheldon, former chairman and chief executive respectively of surrey County Cricket Club and the driving forces behind the Reposm sporting Housing trust. It is a new initiative to provide affordable, sheltered housing for former sportspeople who have fallen on hard times.
It is not an addiction clinic such as sporting Chance, founded by former Arsenal captain tony Adams after his much-publicised battles with drugs and alcohol. Nor is it a dedicated home for those living with dementia.
Reposm aims to raise an initial £2million to launch the first stage of the project, a block of 12 flats with a common space and recreational facilities in the south of england, in partnership with east Boro Housing Association.
soper has been on the board of east Boro for nine years and stepped down this year as the chairman of Cyril Wood Court, a facility in dorset which has created affordable housing for former actors, musicians, writers, painters and craftspeople. Art exhibitions and musical performances are staged in the communal areas at Cyril Wood and there is studio space for pottery and art.
A similar sporting facility might dedicate areas to use as exercise studios, a gym and show live sporting events, to keep minds active and help in the fight against loneliness and mental health issues, often identified as precursors to dementia.
THe sCHeMe has the backing of sir Alex Ferguson and david Pleat, who are both senior figures at the League Managers Association and particularly keen to see more support for ageing former managers, coaches and scouts.
‘For every high-flier, there are many further down the scale in professional sport who have worked equally hard for far less reward,’ said Pleat.
‘It is imperative that sporting wealth does not ignore those less fortunate and unable to cope.’
the PFA is in talks with Reposm about providing financial support. the equivalent bodies in cricket and rugby union are also behind the idea.
‘I’ve been involved in sport for most of my life and I’ve seen some people make a lot of money from it and others drift off with very little,’ said 75-year- old soper, chairman of the Reposm trust.
‘We have nothing like it in this country — apart from horseracing, where there is something similar — and I have seen it work so well at Cyril Wood. talking to people in sport, I am sure it can work equally well.’