As a former player, coach and now manager I cannot recommend highly enough the vital role played by chaplains within football clubs.

Every athlete needs some kind of support and encouragement and a chaplain can be a valuable source of this support.

Personally, I know the importance of chaplaincy in my life and I am delighted to be a patron of Sports Chaplaincy UK recognising the vital work of Chaplains within sport.

I would encourage all players the importance of talking and getting off things of your chest. Chaplains need to remind the players that the support is there and they can talk to you about anything – talking is so important.

Chaplains can be of help to all sorts of people involved with sport, when crisis, need or difficulty comes. I commend the idea of sports chaplaincy and the work of Sports Chaplaincy UK to you.

Sports Chaplaincy is a must have for 21st century athletes.

Sports Chaplaincy UK has a passion for seeing the local church engage in the community of sport. I’m delighted to celebrate all the work they do with hundreds of chaplains across the country and commend to churches who haven’t considered getting involved in looking at how they can serve their local community to explore this possibility. Working with Sports Chaplaincy UK on the Commonwealth Games 2022, I’ve seen the commitment to support a range of churches. Keep up the good work!