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.

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

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.

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

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.

I think this sports chaplaincy is really important for players or coaches to have an avenue where they can go and deal with issues of life, not just rugby and sport, with someone who is impartial, totally confidential, and able to really help them in a pastoral way. I think it’s such a vital service because players and coaches alike, we suffer from a lot of things, life in general and not just sport and rugby things. There is a lot of issues that the players have to deal with. If you are a young man and you get injured it’s very serious and can affect you mentally. It is so important that players and coaches have that support and I think that a sports chaplain, along with many other things in their role, offers that.

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