Harry Redknapp coaches homeless footballers

Emdad Rahman

Ex-Tottenham Manager Harry Redknapp has visited the National Football Centre at St George’s Park to coach and train the Homeless FA’s Team England. Team England is the squad which is chosen by the Homeless FA to represent the national football team at tournaments around the world. The Homeless FA is England’s national homeless football association.

The BT Sport pundit and former West Ham United and Portsmouth Manager met with 40 Team England players selected by the Homeless FA after they had completed the organisation’s Training Centre programme, which uses football to inspire individuals experiencing homelessness to change their lives in a positive direction. The six-week training centre programmes took place at Arsenal, Manchester City, Everton, Southampton, Sunderland, Aston Villa, Fulham, Bristol City, Norwich, Brighton and Derby County.

Harry joined Team England’s Homeless FA coaches Taylor Hitchcock and James Buckley to encourage and advise the players who now have a great chance to represent England at tournaments such as the Homeless World Cup in Amsterdam.

Gareth Parker, head of the Homeless FA, said of James Buckley, the head coach: “He lost his adoptive mother through cancer as a teenager and began sleeping rough, but he has since seen his life transform though football. It gave him focus – he is a shining example.”

BT Sport has awarded a grant to the Homeless FA to fund training camps for 2015, and Harry’s training visit is part of a documentary on the Homeless FA being produced by BT Sport Films, which will air later in the year.

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