Theatre and football combine as play draws on stories of Dundee Street Soccer women’s team

Sarah Rhind knows more than most how finding a supportive community and the power of example can change a life.

Throughout her early 20s in Aberdeen, she became addicted to heroin and, after a spell in rehab, it was taking to the pitch that helped her find her feet again.

She’s one of over 22,000 people who have found friendship and support at Street Soccer, the football-based charity supporting socially disadvantaged groups across Scotland, since it was founded by David Duke in 2009.

A new play, in conjunction with the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, has worked with the women of the Dundee branch to tell the story of five women working to compete in the Homeless Football World Cup in Milan.

Women taking part in the charity’s sessions in Dundee took an active role in sessions with the play’s writers Robbie Gordon and Jack Nurse, with their lived experiences factored into the production.

A Street Soccer story

Sarah, who now works for the charity, hopes Same Team – A Street Soccer Story can prove to be an inspiration to audiences and also those involved in the creative process, many of whom had never dreamed of being part of theatre before.

“This project has brought about great opportunities for our players,” she said.

“It offers them something that bit different to what we can offer them and they’re all being pushed out their comfort zones to be involved and the progress we see from that is brilliant.

“When we first met the writers, I didn’t really understand how they wanted to get to know their stories, the nitty gritty and then put that in a play. First and foremost, my thoughts were protecting the players.

“I was a bit on the fence about it, but over time and getting to know the guys it’s been quite incredible. They have done an absolutely tremendous job with it, way better than I ever could ever have expected. The sessions were primarily up at Dundee and now we’ve got them coming in and delivering sessions in Glasgow.

“We’re always looking to adapt and to offer new opportunities for our players. This has been brilliant and it’s been great to watch this over the last weeks. There’s so much talent, so much ability that’s untapped.

“They don’t know how creative they are and it’s been really nice to give them a different opportunity and to grow in that.”

Emotional rollercoaster

The writers, cast, crew and some of the women of Street Soccer came together recently to do a read-through of the script in preparation for the run at the Traverse, which begins on December 12.

Sarah described it as an ’emotional rollercoaster’ and hailed the way the real-life stories have blended into fiction.

“I’m hoping that people will take a lot from it, hope, inspiration but also breaking barriers and stigma, giving people a better understanding,” she said.

“There are real moments of humour – some dark humour – but real serious notes in it as well. They’ve captured so much.

“I went on a total emotional journey, it’s so captivating and true about how life is and how life can be. I’m just hoping that people can go in with an open mind and experience it with no judgement.

“Addiction can happen to anyone, it doesn’t discriminate.”

A person, not a label

Originally from Aberdeen, Sarah became an addict in her early 20s and couldn’t see a way out. After the death of her father in a car crash in 2013, she moved to Glasgow to enter rehab, knowing she needed a fresh start.

Having done well in her programme, she started to look for the next steps, and that was where football came in, something that had always been her go to.

She went to her first Street Soccer session, and it proved to be life-changing.

“I was full of anxiety, couldn’t speak to anybody or make eye contact. From the very first time I attended the drop-in session I knew there was something very special and unique about the organisation. It wasn’t about my background, there were no questions asked.

“They saw me as a person and not a label. I was just ‘Sarah’ and not ‘Sarah the addict’. That was powerful. It felt like a freedom.

“I came back again the next week and they remembered my name. Little things like that were important, giving you a sense of connection, a sense of belonging.”

Football became the focus of her week, and she continued on her journey, and would become a coach with the charity. She earned a place on Scotland’s Homeless World Cup team and earned a paid coaching job at Celtic.

After a spell co-ordinating for Street Soccer in Aberdeen, she’s now the women’s coordinator in Glasgow and plays in goal for Hamilton Accies.

“Street Soccer has helped support me to have a life worth living again,” she said.

“I am in a position now to use my lived experience to support our players coming through the programme.

“The biggest thing for me was connection and understanding. I’d never felt like I fitted in anywhere or belonged in any of my groups, friendships or anywhere really.

“When you’ve come through addiction, that’s years of being somebody that you were never meant to be, causing all this carnage and tearing worlds apart.

“When you come here, it’s like you get a chance to rebuild and a chance to reform yourself with that lived experience and it’s no longer a bad thing. It takes away the negativity and stigma. That’s who I was, this is how I’ve learned from it and this is how I can now be open and honest and be an example and help others.”

‘It’s what I get up for in the morning’

Sarah, who considers it an honour to be able to support and work with the incredible players under her wing at Street Soccer, hopes partnerships like the one with the Traverse can provide future benefits and more positive experiences.

“It’s what I get up for in the morning,” she said. “I’ve been in that place of having no hope. Addiction is a dark and lonely place to be. You’re not surrounded by hopeful opportunities and people.

“I never thought that anybody actually got out of addiction unless they died. I didn’t see any examples of people getting clean and turning their lives around.

“That power of example is so important. The players’ resilience and strength to show up daily and keep working through things inspires us too.

“There isn’t any greater feeling than seeing the ‘soft changes’ in our players as they grow and develop and become their real selves for the first time in a long time.

“The changes we see in our players can be the smallest of changes in the beginning and over time they build on that. A player making eye contact with you for the first time is powerful and heart-warming.”

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Director: This is a dream project

Being a good theatre director has a lot of similarities to football management. It requires leadership, the perfect cast, and a structure with enough space to allow a slice of creative flair and expression.

It’s why, when asked in an interview for a theatre role, Bryony Shanahan said her favourite director was Sir Alex Ferguson.

It’s an answer she still stands by to this day, and it is now more relevant than ever as her latest project unites her love of football and theatre.

She is at the helm of Same Team, which is the final production of the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh’s 60th anniversary year.

Football and theatre

“This is a dream project for me,” Bryony said. “I’ve always been passionate about how I think football and theatre share so much and have the power to do a really beautiful, social, cohesive thing.

“The journey of this project is so special. I met the women when we went to play football with them in Dundee and the work has come from a real place. We had a training session, did a match and then read the play to them.

“It’s not their stories verbatim, but it’s lots of people’s experiences that have been dramatised and they really had an input into who the characters were, what arcs they would go on.

“It was really special to hear them laughing and recognising lots of the things that the play was speaking about. It’s funny to read and then when the brilliant cast ping it out it really makes me laugh. It’s got a lot of heart and is really from a brilliant place.”

Part of the Traverse’s ethos is to get people who have previously never engaged with the theatre involved in projects that tell stories of people’s lived experiences.

That accessibility is at the heart of Same Team.

“I think a lot of the women, understandably, hadn’t necessarily or still haven’t been to the theatre and certainly haven’t engaged in a playwriting process,” Bryony said.

“They’ve got a lot from actually taking part in that process. I’m really passionate about demystifying the theatre, which I think really suffers from a perception of elitism when it really shouldn’t be like that.”

Barriers

Breaking down the barriers is something theatre can learn a lot from football, Bryony believes.

“Football doesn’t have that kind of elitism necessarily, maybe in terms of the price barriers, but in who can play the sport, who can watch it and the kind of communities that are part of it in one way or another is wide-ranging.

“Because of that it has a really unique position to be able to talk on some really important issues. You can get people in with the football. Whereas if you go ‘oh, want to talk about mental health?’ lots of us, maybe me too, would run a mile.

“It makes it far more relatable and a safer arena to discuss things and because the humour is such an important part of the piece, the play touches genuinely on some really difficult experiences that are real but it never lingers too long in it.”

With football also giving her so much in her life, Bryony was delighted to be a part of the production, which begins its run this month.

“‘I’m always trying to find ways to crowbar football into rehearsals anyway, so it was amazing,” she said.

“For a lot of my upbringing, the way that I connected with family and spent time together was watching Stoke City. When I was a teenager, I ended up playing for Stoke City Ladies, which was a brilliant experience. I watch women’s matches regularly and it’s a huge part of who I am.

“I was thinking about it anyway, but since we’ve been working on this project I started playing again.

“It’s given me that impetus and reconnected me and I realise how much I love it and how important it is to do things in your life that you just enjoy that aren’t necessarily for work. I think I forgot that for a long time.

“Stepping into a training session with a group of people you don’t know, or stepping into a rehearsal is scary, it’s vulnerable, but putting yourself in that place, you actually have a lot to gain from it.

“Whether it’s just the fact that you realise you’re capable of more than you realised, you can run further than you thought you could or just the community that you form with the other people there.”

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Same Team – A Street Soccer Story runs from December 12-23 at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. Visit traverse.co.uk/whats-on

For more information on Street Soccer, visit streetsoccerscotland.org