- PFA England supports former footballers with transitioning from playing career
- Union launched Reconnect programme to provide structured training environment
- Ex-players also have opportunity to connect with other former pros
The English Professional Footballers Association (PFA) launched an initiative to keep former players physically and mentally fit. The union provides their members with the opportunity to have regular workouts in various training centres across the country, where these players can also connect with other former professional footballers.
The idea is to help these members with their transition after having been a full-time player. Often the impact on their physical health is overlooked. Players have been used to a daily structured training environment, but after retiring they need to arrange a new routine for themselves. It can be a challenging time for players, sometimes even leading to physical or mental health problems. Next to that, players could miss socialising with other players after spending years in dressing rooms. With the Reconnect programme, the PFA aims to fill these voids.
Michael Lea, the PFA’s Accident Fund Executive, is leading the project and has personal experience of leaving the professional game. Lea spent time as an academy prospect at Manchester United but stopped playing at age 22 to forge a new professional career off the pitch.
"When you leave the game, the next day you might not know what you’re going to do," he said. "At the PFA, we heard from players – for example – that their physical fitness levels dropped off massively after they finished playing. It’s something players often say is one of the biggest challenges of retirement.
"Our members train day in, day out, in an incredibly structured environment. But after they retire that all changes. What also changes is the social element of having daily access to the ‘dressing room’, and by that I mean your team-mates, the staff, everyone involved in the football club that players become incredibly close to. So, this programme is simply about helping players stay connected – both to physical fitness and to others who are in the same boat as them."
The PFA has created training centres where players can exercise and socialise. The idea is to eventually work towards over 20 of these locations across the country. These hubs tend to be based in high-performance university gyms, like Loughborough University and Leeds Beckett.
"The facilities at these universities are top level, and they’re also really suited to the social aspect as well – plenty of space and often nicely located just a short drive from residential areas which makes it convenient for our members," Lea said.
The Reconnect project was officially launched in April and started with just a handful of sites. Now, around 15 hubs have opened and in the first three months, 115 members signed up to attend. Lea plans to add more sites throughout the year and expects there to eventually be capacity for hundreds of members to attend each month.
Members who register also have access to a specialised app, provided by the PFA’s performance partners P3RFORM, which provides videos of training sessions and advice about nutrition. Lea said: "Although you only have one monthly session at your local hub, you're being given online sessions that you can follow during the next four weeks until you can attend the next group."
Every session is attended by P3RFORM performance coaches, as well as PFA staff who check in with members and help guide them towards relevant services – whether that be the PFA Business School, wellbeing support or funding for courses and qualifications.
"If we’d had a programme like this when I had finished, then I definitely would have attended," Lea admits. "It’s not going to get members back playing football, that’s not what it’s about, but it’s a familiar space for them to join and hopefully makes transitioning away from the game easier."
Lea has visited various hubs since the programme launched. "What I've seen first-hand is that the energy in the room is always really good. Every time I go, I see happy faces, people having a laugh and getting on well together. Some were reconnecting with people they had not seen for years.
"There is absolutely no pressure on them to perform in the gym session – it’s so casual. They can push themselves as hard as they like, or simply be there to have a catch up with others and go for a massage afterwards."
There is no age restriction on the programme, so Lea has seen a range of former players heading through the doors of the Reconnect sessions. "We've had younger members, who have maybe just dropped out of the game, but we've also had players of the age of 50 to 55.
"They all interact with each other, including the more high-profile players or bigger personalities. They’re all in the same session, doing the same thing and sharing experiences, because everyone has their own experiences of transitioning out of football and that’s ultimately what bonds them."
