成人论坛

It’s a year since Damien Lindsay won the 成人论坛 Get Inspired 2015 Unsung Hero Award for his work setting up St James Football Team. To mark the beginning of this year’s search for an Unsung Hero, we asked Damien to reflect on his experiences.

The St James Football team was set up five years ago in response to a lot of anti-social behaviour in our local community in West Belfast. More and more people came to St James from outside the area. A lot of people in the local area didn’t want the area to be seen like that. So we worked together to set up a group to turn things around. One of the ideas was to set up a football team - a Friday night team. Our idea was that no one would be turned away from the team. It was about giving those people who wanted to take part a clean slate.

It wasn’t an easy idea to implement. A lot of people applauded what we were trying to do, but there was some opposition. But to overcome that, we pointed out that if those teenagers we were trying to help were playing in the team they weren’t on the street corners. We also set up a rule – no drinking on a Friday night before the match. That kind of worked. There were training nights too on Tuesday and Thursday.

We spoke to the teenagers on the street corners. We got them to speak to other teenagers who in turn were asking them if they could join the team. As soon as we saw that happening we saw those street corner groups disintegrating. When the team started meeting for practice and matches, that's when people in the local community started saying ‘that was the most peaceful Friday night in a long time’. It wasn’t just about them playing football – it was all the other stuff which wasn’t going on - the drinking until the early hours of the morning, for example.

We were really proud and pleased about the achievement. But you can’t take your eye off the ball. We noticed that some teenagers were drinking again – so we went down to speak to them and say, ‘look this isn’t on’. We encouraged them to come along and helped them set up their own teams as well.

Collecting the Unsung Hero award last year was nerve-wracking. The 成人论坛 had been making a documentary about the St James Farm I also run – that in itself was a big shock. But going to 成人论坛 Sports Personality of the Year event was an even bigger affair for me – you know, meeting all the sporting stars. St James didn’t know we’d won. Then my face appeared on the big screen – that’s when I knew. I could have said a bit more when I was on stage collecting the award, but it was best I didn’t. I just handed the microphone back to Clare Balding. It was a big thing – not the kind of thing I’m used to. I much prefer the ‘Unsung’ bit of the award.

After the programme, I left the event and went back to a special party my family had arranged – I wanted to go back to the community and celebrate. I stayed until after closing time and then headed back to celebrate with the Sports Personality team .I was, as the saying goes, riding two horses.

The impact of winning the award on the team has been absolutely immense. We have a lot of new volunteers in. The team has grown from consisting of a senior team and a second team. Now we have seven teams, and we’re setting up a girls football team as well. The take-up has been unbelievable. The volunteers’ contribution has been immense. All of them are in their football training gear - it's very good to see. And the team has a minibus now too. It's fantastic. And the people in the community are describing St James as ‘our team’. All credit to the volunteers. It has had a big effect on the community.

I think it's a great achievement for someone to take the time and nominate someone for the Unsung Hero Award. It's a big thing. Since I’ve got the award I’ve made a point of taking the time to nominate others for awards. Me receiving the award had a major impact on my life. I always say that to people: It's all about somebody taking the time to recognise the work of someone else. The people who work on these things aren’t doing it for praise, but sometimes when you’re working on something and you’re at a low ebb, just knowing you’re recognised helps.

Over these last four months we’ve lost four young men in our community, some of whom were part of the team. That makes things difficult. We have to keep moving forward – we need to put structures in place. We know what we’re doing makes a difference. But in those moments when you question yourself the fact that other people have nominated you really helps.

It's always good to get a pat on the back. A pat on the back pushes the chest out. It makes you go out there and have another go.

Damien Lindsay won the Unsung Hero Award in 2015

• a worthy winner for the 成人论坛 Get Inspired Unsung Hero Award 2016
• winner Jill Stidever reflections on receiving the award in 2014