“It’s going to be one of the highlights of my life”
At half-time on Saturday night at the Premier Sports Cup match between the Dons and Queen’s Park, we welcome The Aberdeen Football Fans in Training Legends, who won their league title last season.
The Club was created through a group of Aberdeen fans who signed up for the hugely successful Football Fans in Training scheme offered by the AFC Community Trust.
Over the last ten years, thousands of football fans have benefitted from Europe's leading healthy lifestyle programme, powered by football clubs in a number of different countries. Football Fans in Training is a free 13-week programme that can help you to improve both your physical health and mental wellbeing. FFIT provides Aberdeen fans with an opportunity to come into Pittodrie every Monday night and become fitter, healthier, and happier at the same time.
From there, former participants of the programme then started their own initiative which led to the creation of the Club.
Lee Carver is the current chairman of the Aberdeen Legends FC and the manager of the team as well. He will lead the players around the pitch this evening.
“The Club was a legacy group off the back of the AFC Community Trust Football Fans in training programme, which was based on getting people off the sofa, teaching people about nutrition and well-being, and being more active. It taught me a lot more about physical and mental health.
“The team was then started by a guy called Brian Bream. He saw there was no follow on from the community programme and started a small group, just initially for a friendly kickabout.
“We now have over 100 active members who play on a Monday and on a Thursday. The ages vary from 35 to our oldest member who is in his seventies now, so it's getting bigger and better all the time. It's certainly grown from half a dozen guys having a friendly game in the Pittodrie Street car park just to keep themselves active and to keep themselves going.”
SOFFA League
The League, in full is called the Seniors and Overweight football fans association and the League slogan ‘is get off the sofa and join SOFFA’.
“The league started mainly because we used to play just inter-club friendlies. We got all the group organisers together and decided we could create something more cohesive and more structured where it gives you something to play for as well.
“The last two seasons since the league started, there's been eight teams. This season we've actually lost a team to one of the other over 35 leagues down in the central belt. So currently there are seven teams within the structure.
“The league rules are more or less set up around the FFIT Scotland criteria. You have to be over 35, you have to have a BMI of over 28 or you have to have a waist of over 38. The only other stipulation is you cannot be signed to a team at amateur level or above. As long as you meet one of those criteria, you're eligible to play with us and you're eligible to play within the league.
“The standard is very high. You have a good number of players who have played at a very good level. And you never lose the competitive nature! Everybody plays football to win. We've had some feisty games, which we welcome as well!
“At the end of the day, a big part of this set up is the relationship between the teams. A lot of us have known each other for a long, long time. We always shake hands at the end. We're always going back for a bit of hospitality, and a chat.
“Mental health is a big, big aspect now as well, bigger than it was when we started this. I feel as though the camaraderie from just being together and supporting each other is so important.”
League Winners
“Winning the league was made even better because last season we kind of we threw it away in the end. Dunfermline won it last year, and credit to them. They beat us by a point. We had the opportunity to play them in the second last game of the season at home and conceded a last minute equaliser, which cost us the league in the end. So it made the guys even more determined to go ahead and win it this year.
“We confirmed the league win away to Celtic this year. They're one of the stronger teams, so to beat them down there 3-2 on their own patch, winning the league and getting that monkey off our back from last year was a fantastic feeling.”
Pittodrie
“The vast majority of the lads are Aberdeen fans, though we have got a couple of rogues in the squad who I won't point out! But everyone is welcome. Speaking from a personal point of view, I've never been up close to the pitch at Pittodrie. For me, walking around the pitch in front of the fans is going to be one of the highlights of my life, being a lifelong Dons fan and season ticket holder. I speak for the majority of the team as well. It's something that'll be special for us, for sure.”
AFCCT
“What is also nice is the fact we have continued the relationship with the club through the Aberdeen FC Community Trust. We've supported the trust financially by giving them donations in the past and vice versa. They've supported the team by helping us with the use of Cormack Park for our home games. Stephen Boddie has been fantastic at helping with that kind of thing. They're always there to lend a hand.”
Stephen, Football Team Lead from the AFC Community Trust added “Lee approached me last year to discuss how the FFIT Legends and AFCCT could work closer together and after a couple positive meetings, we managed to arrange having the team play their home matches at Cormack Park. It is important for AFCCT and AFC to work closely with the FFIT Legends group, as many of them have successfully taken part in our Football Fans in Training programme across the years. We are delighted that the group have managed to win the league last season and we look forward to working closer together in the coming years.”
Health and the Friendship
“The camaraderie, the support that we give each other through various different aspects, can't be put into words.
“I made lifelong friends with this group. I knew very few of these guys before I started. A number of guys who've passed away in the last couple of years, Rob Alexander and Brian Cameron, they were massive advocates of this. The legacy they left with this group is very strong.
“For example, lockdown in particular was a difficult time for a lot of people. Everyone checked in on each other, and when we could get the opportunity to meet up, whether it was just for a social distance walk or a little game, everyone really supported each other.
“The importance of being part of a team, it's sometimes forgotten about. When guys are in their twenties, many are part of a football team or part of a collective group, and then that ends. For a lot of people, there is a decline of mental health as that is a big loss. We feel as though with what we've got here, it gives people an opportunity to fill that gap. As I say, our oldest member is 70. It can't be seen as anything other than a real positive.”
Anyone interested in getting involved with the Aberdeen Legends, please contact [email protected] or visit Facebook Aberdeen Football Fans in Training Legends
