Doncaster mental health charity secures first Premier League supporter signing

A Doncaster football club which aims to provide support to people through the medium of regular kickabouts, has secured the signing of a Premier League footballer as they continue to grow from strength.

Alex Cairns, who currently plays for Leeds United in the top-flight has joined the charity's supporter team, joining the likes of former Doncaster Rovers owner John Ryan and club legends like Billy Sharp and James Coppinger.

Ryan Oldfield, from Cusworth, founded Mental Health FC back in June 2023 having struggled with anxiety throughout his life. Football was one of the few activities he found helped him with his condition and he wanted to use that passion for the game as an outlet to help others in similar situations.

Ryan said: “As I got older it got harder to arrange stuff with friends like five-a-side. People get older, they have work, kids and all that sort of stuff and I found I was only really playing like once every six months.”

Initially just to test the waters, Ryan put a post on social media asking if anyone was interested in a kickabout. He recalls: "When I put the first post out, a lot of people were interested. So we set a date, set a time, and then 11 people turned up on the first one. So that was my first target ticked off as we had enough numbers.”

From there Mental Health FC surged in popularity so much so that it now tailors to people throughout Doncaster on different days of the week.

He added: “Running the Mental Health football club has helped me both in terms of fitness and getting out, along with networking. It was tough at the start but I’ve built up connections, support and confidence.”

During the last three years, Ryan has crossed paths with plenty of big names , announcing supporters of the group as signings on social media to generate a buzz and grow the reach of the group.

Describing the role that supporters play, he explained: “They give their permission to use their name and their image to support what we are doing. Their profile helps us reach more people and let us know what they do.

“Luke Molyneux was a great supporter, he donated some signed boots. Alex Cairns has his own football project and we hope to collaborate and do stuff together.”

He added: “I give them a free-role so they aren’t under pressure - the main one for us has been James Coppinger.

“He introduced me to Gavin Baldwin and then the kit man from Doncaster Rovers passed us down some clothing from some of the players that was worn during the previous season and we handed it out for free.

“People were queuing up before we got to the venue and that wouldn’t have been possible without Coppinger.”

Alongside running Mental Health FC as a club for people to play football, Ryan explains that the group also provides experiences to fans such as watching games in hospitality and meeting their heroes.

One example of this came against Plymouth Argyle when Joe Edwards, a Rovers fan that’s partially blind, was given the chance to watch the game with his family from a box.

Ryan said: “We want to do stuff like that for positivity as its uplifting. We want to create a feel-good factor and do stuff like this more often in the future.”