IT was a privilege to be asked to speak at the Street Soccer Business Network event on International Women’s Day, last Thursday, when the focus was on the work that is currently being carried out, both at home and abroad. This is always a popular event and I was advised that this particular event was sold out in two days!

I was joined by Laura Montgomery, co-founder of Glasgow City FC, Scotlands most successful women’s football team, along with other members of Street Soccer, including founder and Chief Executive of Street Soccer, David Duke MBE.

Also playing an active part in the proceedings was Babs Geddes, who is now a volunteer working in the new programme, Street 45. To be fair the night was all about Babs as she stole the show with her honesty and you could hear a pin drop as we listened intently.

The make-up of the audience was quite interesting as I would say it was around 65-70 per cent male and it was great to see that they were all interested in what was happening with the female side of Street Soccer. The main presentation on the night was about their latest project from Street 45, which is aimed at women aged 16 and over, and is available at no cost to participants.

It’s a new concept for them and involves 45 minutes of fitness then 45 minutes of personal development, which means listening to what participants want and delivering it.

Babs stood up and addressed the audience, the first time she had spoken in public in her life and told everyone about her struggles with her own mental health as well as her OCD, at the same time making light-hearted comments about her recovery. Everyone in the room was enthralled at her spirit of resilience and determination and the round of applause she received at the end confirmed that feeling. She told us that the highlight of her life came just six weeks after she joined Street Soccer, when she was selected to represent Scotland at the Homeless World Cup in Oslo in 2017.

So how did Street Soccer come about and why is it so successful at what it does? The extremely- unassuming Mr Duke MBE has to take responsibility for this. Having first-hand experience of being homeless, at the age of 21, David found his salvation was football and after seeing a poster calling on players for the Homeless World Cup, summoned up the courage to attend, and as they say, the rest is history.

David founded the organisation and it has grown from strength to strength. The highlight for him, I think, must be hosting the 2016 Homeless World Cup in George Square, Glasgow. It was an amazing success, raising awareness of the issues of homeless people, not just in Scotland, but all over the world. Here’s a wee hard-hitting fact for you – according to Shelter Scotland in 2015/16 there were 28,266 homeless people in Scotland with over 34,662 homeless applications made! It’s a sobering thought.

As always, delivering programmes throughout Scotland takes money and Street Soccer haven’t yet found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. They are no different to so many other organisations who use the power of sport to help those who are struggling, so fund-raising for them is an integral part of their existence.

Every year they make great use of The Hunter Foundation’s charity The Kiltwalk, which adds 40p to every pound raised in sponsorship. They also organised, for the first time last year, a fund-raising, black-tie event. This was an immense night, with the highlight of the night being an interview, by Hazel Irvine with Sir Alex Ferguson. We were also treated to an impromptu performance by John Bishop, the Liverpudlian comedian, who himself is patron of a similar charity in his home town. Great work by great people.

Let me finish with a quote from David: “The effects of poverty are brutal and devastate communities.

“Living in this environment means people are faced with a lack of opportunity, which leads to a lack of hope. When someone has no hope it becomes dangerous.

“I have experienced this and can only describe it as being locked in a cold, dark room with no doors. Waking up every day with a feeling of hopelessness can lead to poor mental health, addiction, crime and in some cases death”