Community Trusts across Angus are fast becoming the beating heart of towns and the clubs they are linked to.
Over the coming days, Courier Sport is shining a light on the fantastic work being done in our communities in Angus via two Community Trusts – in Montrose and Arbroath.
Peter Davidson is currently in his 12th year as CEO of Montrose Community Trust.
The charity was established in 2012 as Links Park Community Trust with no direct link to the football club, other than sharing the facilities at Links Park.
It has developed into Montrose Community Trust and, at its’ peak, the organisation has engaged with 1400 people a week.
In their first 10 years, they invested £1.8 million in community projects, delivering 50 projects to over 5,000 participants.
Core members of the European Football for Development Network (EFDN), Montrose have shared a top table with the likes of Barcelona and PSG.
And under the mantra #MoreThanFootball, Davidson has shared, in his own words for Courier Sport, MCT’s strategic vision for the future – focusing on three core aims:
Montrose Community Trust: Programmes – participation and performance
We are now 12 years in and have launched a new strategy called tackling health.
We use the context of football to improve health and life chances. You can be a kid starting out in football or a 77-year-old.
Regardless of age, aspiration or ambitions – it’s football for all and football for life.
We have recreational programmes and competitive teams. Our goal is physical, social and emotional wellbeing.
Folk shouldn’t stop playing because they grow old. They’ll grow old whey stop playing.
Attainment and Achievement
Right now, we have two groups of children who undertake part of their schooling at Links Park instead of Montrose Academy.
It’s part of a school of football and an alternative curriculum.
I wasn’t particularly great at school myself. I wasn’t disrespectful or disengaged and I attended.
But if everything had been taught through the context of football then I’d have been far more engaged.
Imagine a Geography lesson based on the Euros. What about a physics lesson that was about the spin of a David Beckham free-kick?
What if literacy was taught through mock press conferences and maths was about goal-to-game averages and league points?
I’d have been a genius because I’d have been so enthused.
School used to be about learning outcomes. Now it’s experiences and outcomes.
The experience of how learning takes place is just as important as the subject.
What a wonderful alternative classroom a football stadium can be.
In our mock press conferences, one of the kids will assume the role of a new signing and the other will be a reporter from The Courier in the media room.
They will learn not to ask closed questions such as: ‘Are you happy to sign for Montrose?’
Instead, they’ll ask: ‘What makes you want to play for this club? What skills and qualities will you bring?’
Fast forward five years and these kids will have to do the very same task in a job interview.
Welfare and well-being
Our Trust didn’t set out to support what we refer to as our social impact projects.
But it has evolved. Ourselves, Arbroath and other Trusts are now being asked to support the most basic of people’s needs.
Mental health, poverty, isolation. We continually adapt, and respond to such emerging needs.
We have a weekly project that provides warmth, food and companionship, supporting those struggling with the cost of living crisis and, in particular, those in isolation.
Montrose Community Trust are about to launch a new flagship after school programme, based in schools, called extra-time.
Pupils can transition from their class to our session for 90 minutes. We provide food, a little bit of football, and alternative classroom based activities.
The best bit is they don’t have to like football. It’s an extension of the school day and seeks to support working parents every bit as much as the participants.
The power of the badge
We had very little to do with Montrose FC when we were first established and during our infant years.
Around that time, they were club 42 and the first team to face a pyramid play-off. The affinity between the community and the club wasn’t quite what it is today.
We based ourselves around the wonderful Links Park facility but, through that, we developed an affinity with the club.
Then, as they were improving on and off the pitch, we aligned with them.
Football is a really powerful tool but with power comes obligation. We work together to put it to good use.
We have separate boards and our own goals but we have a shared vision of what we want our community to look like.
The club board here have really bought into what we are about.
Football is a really powerful tool but with power comes obligation. We work together to put it to good use.
I have no doubt a club aligned closely with a Community Trust will see more people come through the gates. It will see an increase in merchandise sales and other spin-offs.
But it’s not why we exist.
Impact
The football club really supports our charity and we support the community.
In 2012, this stadium was almost a museum during the week.
That has changed. From a population of just over 11,000 we have – at our peak – engaged with 1,400 of them a week.
Barcelona, Feyenoord, PSG and Juventus, clubs we are proud to call partners, all have wonderful foundations.
But they won’t engage with the percentage of their population that we or other Scottish clubs do.
When we talk about size of club, let’s talk about size of impact.
It’s for all ages.
The 18-month old may be coming for her first experience of organised activity.
Her dad, could be at our recreational football on a Monday night. The older sibling is with one of our grassroots teams.
Granny is living with dementia and goes to our dementia meeting centre while grandad participates in our walk and talk programme.
We strive to support people in enhancing their physical, social and emotional wellbeing, and it helps being able to use the club brand and embrace the growing level interest in the team.
What next for Montrose Community Trust?
We get great support from our many companies and funders, including our principal corporate partners Montrose Port Authority, Inchcape Offshore and Gill Financial.
Montrose Port Authority have given us £8,000 to buy a catering trailer and, through £8,000 we got from the SPFL Trust and in association with The Poverty Alliance, we’ll deliver a programme called ‘free-kicks.’
Free-kicks will offer pop-up football in areas of deprivation or where emergency services tell us there is a prevalence of anti-social behaviour.
We’ll have goals and anyone can come and play but I think a big appeal will be the catering trailer.
We’ll dish out free food to participants and their families and partner agencies will support the project by offering advice to those in need of such.
I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved so far but even more of the team we have delivering it all for us.
They are fully committed to making a difference to people’s lives in Montrose. It’s more than a job.
It’s more than football.
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