The founder of a popular Sunday football group has said it’s “overwhelming” reflecting on the journey that has transformed it into one of the city’s largest amateur sporting organisations.
Jordan Campbell, 28, started Sunday Football Kickabout in January with just 10 players. Since then, the group has grown into a football community of more than 400 members.
In collaboration with organising partner Daryl Mitchell, 32, the group now features custom jerseys and has secured sponsorships, marking a significant leap from its humble beginnings.
With a website, Facebook group and WhatsApp chat, Jordan now sees up to 60 players taking to the grass across two pitches at Kingswell’s Cormack Park on Sundays between 6pm and 8pm.
In addition to the recreational games, Sunday Football Kickabout also fields a competitive side, which plays fixtures across the city.
The progress stands in stark contrast to the group’s beginnings, when Jordan and his friends struggled to organise a simple game of five-a-side at Goals on Great Southern Road.
Now, speaking to The Press and Journal, Jordan reveals that he’s focused on using the group for a greater cause. He hopes to eventually raise money for charity and fund initiatives that will benefit the Granite City.
Expanding the group across Scotland and the UK is also one of his long-term goals.
He said: “It was very overwhelming when we first had over 60 people walking out onto Cormack Park over two pitches.
“The whole point of it is that anyone can play – age group, ability – it doesn’t matter. Everyone is welcome.
“I just love seeing how beneficial it is to people – I have some that come up to me and they say their mental health is greatly improved, just with their involvement.
“It’s really great to see a community being built around it.”
How did Sunday Football begin?
The group originally started as a five-a-side organized over WhatsApp.
However, when the game struggled due to a lack of players, Jordan was determined to revive it.
“My friend Ryan used to organise a Sunday football at Goals,” he explained.
“But guys always used to drop out and that used to cost him loads of money, and that forced him to cancel it indefinitely. But I always thought it was a really good thing.
“You always felt better about yourself when you went back to work on the Monday – the exercise and comradery was always great.”
Feeling the void from the group’s dissolution, Jordan decided to revive it bigger and better than ever.
“I found myself having better numbers, just through my outreach. We had people wanting to join from social media, friend groups and other places,” he said.
“So much so actually that we had too many people actually wanting to turn up and play – so we were sort of forced to have 11-a-side games instead.
“That was at Spain Park, and numbers continued to grow even further. That was when we thought that we might need two pitches to fit everyone on here.”
Jordan contacted Aberdeen Football Club, with Cormack Park the only place that he knew he could get everyone on.
“Originally they didn’t have space to take us on at the time we wanted but since we were booking every week we eventually got on. We even had a steward there to help – which is such a positive for us,” he said.
‘I want to bring the Aberdeen football community together’
As the group continued to grow, Jordan found the task increasingly difficult to manage on his own last summer.
That’s when he enlisted the help of his friend Daryl, who now assists with the running of the club.
“As numbers grew even further, I found myself struggling to manage it all myself. I have a wife and two dogs,” he said.
“The amount of messages I was getting through on WhatsApp was just incredible. We had over 160 members on our WhatsApp chat, and 400 followers on Facebook.
“But since then we have become more organised and we even have a competitive team, which has attracted sponsors from around Aberdeen.
“In such a short time I feel like we have really made something great – I just want to bring the Aberdeen football community together.”
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