Everton show the way on refugees

The story of those who seek refuge within these shores became lost in that extraordinary blizzard of controversy about the right to tweet but it is still there, of course. If only everton had garnered as much publicity for the way they work, quietly, resolutely and without ceremony, on this monumentally complicated issue.

It was through them that I met a young man called Jacob Viera at Goodison Park five years ago. The roll-neck top he wore didn’t entirely obscure the scarring to his neck caused by drug gangs who had tried to electrocute him, for refusing to carry their narcotics over the Kenyan border when he was travelling to play elite youth football. he had been scooped up by weekly coaching sessions, run by everton’s community department for displaced young people seeking refuge and asylum in the city of Liverpool. Jacob has since gone on to become a local referee and was last year appointed administrator to the Liverpool County FA. It took more than a tweet to change his life.