Believe it or not, my first football match was only last year.
I got invited to Tottenham’s home game with Crystal Palace in April 2019 at their new stadium. It was the first game in the new stadium and the atmosphere was absolutely incredible. I have to thank Dele Alli's friend and agent, Harry Hickford, for his patience after having me constantly jumping and screaming throughout the game.
It’s quite funny that it took me so long to see a game given I grew up in Newham, within walking distance of West Ham’s old Upton Park ground. The Bobby Moore statue outside of it was actually on the same street as my house and we could get tickets for one pound. But I never went!
Playing in my back garden, I loved hearing the Hammers' fans roar on matchdays. But I didn’t want to become a professional footballer. It was the culture of football that really appealed to me and still does. I find the game’s ability to unite, and cultivate change, fascinating and really powerful all across the world.
As a poet, my words can play a part too. That’s why I was really excited to write ‘This Is England’ for The FA during the current Covid-19 pandemic. In my own eyes this was a poet’s version of getting an England call up!
The poem's aim is to help unite us in isolation and remind fans that although the situation may be difficult now, by the ‘final whistle’ we will come out of the crisis stronger and victorious.
I'm not only a poet, but a writer and actor. I was inspired by my dad, who was an extra in the football movie Green Street. I started performing at 13 in Ilford on backroads and that led me to my first performance in Stratford two years later. Then as I matured, my writing became a medium to house vulnerable thoughts.
Throughout this time, I would frequently interact with football. I didn’t always watch a ton of games on TV, but I remember Bend It Like Beckham. It was a massive deal to see an Asian girl kicking about a football and I think the film caused a positive cultural shift.
After university, I started focusing on tying more of my work to mental health. I suffered depression in my early twenties and have worked with youth since to promote mental fitness, including breaking a Guinness World Record in March 2017 for the largest-ever mental health lesson in partnership with King's College London and Hackney Empire.
This venture actually led me back to football. Gary Lineker sent us a good luck video before we broke the record. I also was called to work with Dele twice. I even got to play with him and he nutmegged me! And I also ended up getting invited to St George’s Park to talk to the England football team as part of this season’s Heads Up campaign.
Performing poetry to footballers was really interesting for me because I didn’t know how they were going to react, so when Tammy Abraham stood up and clapped I was so happy. I had a great conversation with Tyrone Mings after too and all the players respected what I was saying, which was amazing and inspiring.
Football isn’t just about playing, but coming together to create and enjoy a shared culture. It gives you a community and breaks down barriers.
This dawned on me, in particular, watching England play at the 2018 World Cup. I went around to my good friend Natasha’s house to catch a game. She’s married to a Turkish guy.
So there I am cheering on England, while he’s in the garden making the best BBQ I have ever seen in my life. Suddenly England score and everyone goes nuts. This cosmopolitan party, full of people of different ages, backgrounds and nationalities, all came together to cheer on England. For 90-minutes our DNA was the same. I love that the England team, and football more generally, can do that.
But right now, we don’t have a UEFA European Championship to look forward to this summer. We won't be mass gathering for BBQs and summer parties together any time soon. And our England heroes are at home just like us. So mental fitness is so important. We all need to find coping mechanisms.
I noticed in the early part of the lockdown that I was napping during the day for an hour and it was affecting the quality of my evening sleep. So I started running. I probably run more than an England international right now. I do at least 10k every day.
An absolute honour to collaborate with @England
— Hussain Manawer (@HussainManawer) April 23, 2020
I present to to you
This is England x pic.twitter.com/VQcHdzJUbz
I've also started writing letters. I was recently reading this book of letters between the Van Gogh brothers [Theo and Vincent] and so I decided to send some hand-written letters to my friends in America and Asia. I get so much joy writing down how I feel and then eagerly awaiting a response in the post.
As a Muslim, I will also be celebrating the holy month of Ramadan during lockdown. I think being part of a religious group is a bit like supporting a football team. There is certainly the same sense of community. And it will be most challenging for all those fasting to stay at home whilst not having the luxury of running to the fridge to find something to eat.
We're all part of a unique and challenging part of history. And I think it’s nice to look it at in football terms. We are not yet at 'full time' but when it comes we will be celebrating a victory and remembering the hard times along with the people that we lost.
Like England fans at a World Cup, we are all currently taking on the same opposition. It's a virus in this case. It's reassuring and heartwarming to know that there are thousands of England fans and people all across the world, out there, all united, who are hoping and praying for the same thing – to beat this and to get back to living their lives and watching the team they love.
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