VEGAN UNITED
Defender Smalling talks about his change of diet, helping Manchester charities and life under Ole
THE sun is shining, schoolchildren are cheering and Chris Smalling is smiling. The dust is still settling on United’s defeat to Paris Saint-Germain 20 hours earlier but Smalling is in a breezy mood as he takes selfies and signs autographs at Salford City Academy.
Just before the five-a-side games commence at the Eccles high school, an enthusiastic schoolboy asks Smalling to sign his forehead and the chuckling defender obliges. The ecstatic lad’s Cheshire Cat grin is captured by the M.E.N.’s photographer.
Smalling is back at school to spread the word about Football Beyond Borders (FBB), a Brixton-based education charity using football to inspire youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Smalling is the ideal figurehead; an articulate footballer who overcame a testing childhood to earn a place at Loughborough University to do financial economics, a course his brother, Jason, began two years ago.
The Smalling siblings’ upbringing was not as serene as some have assumed. Smalling was 11 when his father, Lloyd, passed away. He and Jason were raised by their mother on benefits and the family was reliant on council housing. Smalling was once dropped from his youth team after his mother was unable to support the cost of bus travel to and from training.
That sobering childhood motivated Smalling to secure GCSEs and A-Levels in anticipation of three years at university. He was five weeks away from starting his course. Then Fulham spotted Smalling at Maidstone United aged 18.
“One of things which struck me straight away is that for a lot of them this programme is the only stable thing in their lives,” the 29-year-old says of FBB while holding court in a classroom. “You hear a lot of kids say it’s changed their lives and so it’s something I wanted to get involved in.
“When I heard they were expanding and coming to Manchester – Manchester has been my home for the last nine years and hopefully a lot more years – so it just seemed the perfect fit.”
Smalling has spent nearly a decade in Manchester and in December signed a four-year contract with United. His wife, Sam, is Mancunian and the couple’s sincerity for charitable causes is only trumped by how proactive they are with them.
Last year, Smalling raised £29,000 for the Barnabus Christian charity and served food for homeless and socially deprived visitors at their Christmas party. Sam slept rough for a night to raise funds for The Mustard Tree charity and the couple, who own two dogs, are heavily involved with the Dogs Trust, which Smalling
You aren’t sometimes in the privileged position when you’re growing up Chris Smalling
visited last month. Smalling has also championed Peta.
“I think you see some footballers do things more towards the back of their careers,” Smalling explains. “Whereas I think I’m at that age where I’m more experienced. I wanted to try and do more because I’m in such a privileged position. Me and my wife, we picked a few different areas where we felt we could help.” Smalling’s empathy puts him in a unique position and he talks about his hope he can ‘relate’ to the children through the FBB programme. “You aren’t sometimes in the privileged position when you’re growing up,” he explains. “That life’s against you and that you’re never really going to achieve whatever young dream you have, so programmes like this are massively important to – like you say – bring that divide closer and make every kid realise they have a chance.”
for more information about football Beyond Borders visit: footballbeyondborders.org