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

A very special thank you to our Club Chaplain, Duncan Strathdee. A number of people associated with the club have faced personal difficulties over the course of this season and, unseen and unheralded, Duncan has provided them with a listening ear, comfort and guidance that I know has been very much appreciated.

Providing Sports Chaplaincy has become an important part of our approach to equality and ethical behaviours. Aside from providing a friendly, familiar face and an open door to confidential advice and support for everyone, there have also been occasions when our Sports Chaplains have made significant and timely interventions supporting athletes, staff and wider service users through some difficult and challenging times.

Our chaplain has been invaluable to us as an organisation. She has been a fixed point of support for our senior players and workforce for almost 18 months. We are excited about her expanding the support to our age group squads over the coming months and look forward to her joining us for many more seasons to come

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.

Chaplaincy brings a personal touch- people feel they can be listened to as individuals. If chaplaincy was established in every club, I believe it would be of huge benefit to the game as a whole.

Sports Chaplaincy has been of huge personal and group benefit within our female international team camp environments. The support has been provided within all our age group teams and senior squad and has proved to be extremely beneficial for players.

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

Mae Uwch Gynghrair Cymru JD yn falch o gymerwdwyo’r gwasanaeth pwysig ac ymarfeol hwn. ‘Rydym, fel Cynghrair Cenedlaethol, yn hapus iawn bod y gefnogaeth bwysig yma ar gael i unigolion o fewn ein clybiau.

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

The JD Welsh Premier League is proud to endorse and recommend this important and practical service which has been made available to member clubs of our National League in Wales. We’re very happy that this support network is easily accessible to individuals at our clubs.