Football: A Common Language

 Shaygan Banisaeid, Middlesbrough

To mark Football Welcomes month, Goal Click teamed up with Amnesty International UK for a special series telling stories from refugees across the country through football. Now in its fifth year, Football Welcomes, supported by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery, celebrates the contribution players from a refugee background make to the game, and highlights the role football can play in creating more welcoming communities for refugees.

We worked with five partners of the Football Welcomes Community Project - Leicester City in the Community, Liverpool County FA, Middlesbrough FC Foundation, Aston Villa Foundation, and Club Doncaster Foundation.

With Middlesbrough FC Foundation, our storyteller was Shaygan Banisaeied, originally from Iran.

I am Shaygan Banisaeid from Iran. I have been living in The United Kingdom for two years and three months. I am very ambitious about football coaching and with MFC Foundation I made my dream happen and started coaching football. My ambition is to continue stepping up in football coaching and become a professional manager.

What did you try to show with the photos? Was there any wider meaning with the photos?

I showed a combination of refugee and asylum seeker groups from Middlesbrough and Redcar brought together through the Football Welcomes project and MFC Foundation. The photos were taken on Redcar beach, on the coast east of Middlesbrough.

I wanted to show the enjoyment of people playing football together from not only different North East towns but also, on a greater scale, from different parts of the world. It was also to show the unique setting of football on the beach between people new to the North East but with the old steelworks in the background, showing Middlesbrough and Redcar’s industrial history. 

When and why did you start playing football? Who did you play with?

I used to play football since I was five years old back in Iran. Football is so popular in Iran and in our family as well. I started playing football with my older brothers and my dad who was a very good footballer in his time.

The only year I played at a high level was when I played a season in the U16 pro league of Iran for FC Hafez Shiraz as a right back and centre back, I didn’t continue playing football after being out for 6 months due to a serious groin injury and also because every day I was becoming more sure that being a football coach excited me much more than playing - I believe I am better and more talented at it.

My father was a classic left back and he used to be play professionally until the age of 23 - he played for the best team of Khuzestan Province, Gomrok. Some of his teammates continued their careers in the top level of Iran professional football league, the national team, and they are still active in professional football as managers. But my dad was forced to hang up his boots due to a knee injury.

Which is your favourite photo and why?

The action shots show that even though the match was a friendly, it was still very competitive between the two teams. They also show the unique setting for the match as normally the sessions are held either indoors or on more traditional style football pitches. They also have the famous steelworks in the background which is what I wanted to show in the photographs.

Why is football important to you? What role does football play in your life at the moment?

Football has always been a very important part of my life. In fact, the feeling coaching, playing, watching or analysing football brings to me is not comparable with anything else. Coaching football is what I enjoy the most, and what I would like to continue for the rest of my life. I am very ambitious and passionate to get to the highest level of football and I am currently working towards my football coaching education and gaining experience at the grassroots level.

Unfortunately, with the pandemic there is not any official coaching course available. After I qualified from the previous FA football coaching course, I am still waiting to be able to start the next level. However, there are many learning opportunities available thanks to the FA and I am consistently studying and developing my theoretical knowledge. I also take part in at least 2 or 3 webinars each week which is a great option for me to have.

To what extent has football helped you make friends and get to know people in the local community?

Without football there is no doubt that getting settled in a different country and different culture would be ten times more difficult for me and I know it is the same for our participants in the Club Together project. On the pitch, we are all speaking a common language, Football Language.

Club Together provides great opportunities for people to get settled in their new environment and people who need to engage with other people, but they find it difficult to do so anywhere else. It makes them feel they belong to a group which respects them, cares about them and wants them always to be happy and fit both physically and more importantly mentally. It makes them believe they can be part of the community and follow their goals.

How important is football in the community you live in?

I believe every kid in Middlesbrough grows up with the dream of playing for MFC one day, nothing can unite the local people better than football.