From the Comfort Zone to the Fan Zone, at Spennymoor FC
Saturday 29th April was a big day for National League North (the sixth tier of English football). The final game of the 22/23 season and the day when teams at the bottom and top of the league would scrap to stay in the league – or fight their way into the playoffs. It was all to play for at Spennymoor FC’s home round, The Brewery Field.
Could the team known as “The Moors”, against all the odds, claw their way into the playoffs and would Farsley Celtic (the visitors) manage to cling on to their National League North status?
Well…more of this later.
Amongst the 1700 fans in attendance at this match were the Recovery Connections team (Adam, Steve and Terry) – and our coffee bike (it doesn’t have a name – but maybe it should!). In many respects, we weren’t even supposed to be at this match at all. We were initially booked to attend a match in January – but this had been cancelled in the morning due to a frosty pitch.
But as luck would have it – here we were, at one of the busiest and most anticipated matches of the season. Looking at the size of the crowd, our initial thoughts were ‘we’re going to need a bigger boiler’ – this was going to be a very busy day.
So, what is our coffee bike? It’s a very simple concept: people in recovery from addiction serve free hot coffee to customers and during this ‘transaction’ there is an opportunity to have a conversation.
On Saturday, at the match, we served over 150 coffees – that is 150 conversations with people about recovery and about what recovery means. It is a conversation rooted in intentionality. It’s about relationship, experience, knowledge. Its about being human.
We had many conversations on Saturday; some were fleeting, some were much deeper and longer. They were all rich and were always warm, rooted in compassion and a genuine sharing of ideas and experiences.
We made plenty of friends – some of whom we will be seeing again. Whilst a key driver for the ‘process’ is to challenge stigma, we often find that when people are talking to one another, there is a shared understanding, a natural empathy, and a lot of respect for people who are on the recovery journey often emerges.
People are fully aware of the challenges and are very supportive when speaking to people in recovery. Indeed, many people have family members and friends that have been touched by addiction. The fact that there were a lot of intentional conversations about challenges in life, about addiction and about recovery, in the Fan Zone at a football match is quite a special thing.
Terry said that what he most wanted from the day was that when people go home that they have a conversation around the dinner table with their family about recovery. This is a quiet revolution and every time the coffee bike goes out and a conversation takes place – a small spark ignites. This work is setting fires.
Spennymoor FC is a very special football club. It is a family club. It has an important place at the heart of the community. The club shares all the values of Recovery Connections. It is a new relationship for both of us, but it one that is founded in trust. We both stepped out of our comfort zones and we have both grown because of our curiosity and a joint aspiration to do the right thing.
Oh, and the football. It was a fantastic match. Farsley managed to cling on to their National League One North status and Spennymoor won the game, but were just pipped to a play off place. But they will move forward into a new season and a new tomorrow relishing the challenge and with hope in their hearts.
This is also the journey of Recovery Connections and our community.
