For those of us who believe that there is good left in a sport that employs Sepp Blatter, the launch of Alzheimer Scotland’s Football Memories website is a fillip.
I’ve known about the project itself for a while: with extraordinary results, Alzheimer Scotland’s volunteers use old football images and stories to ignite the imaginations of sufferers. That, my friends, is what football is for.
Their new project website is an ever so slightly brilliant way in which to lose hours. It is, too, a growing record of social history and a chance for me to write about Juninho. Best of all, anyone and everyone is now invited to submit their memories.
The website is at www.footballmemories.org.uk, and my own entry here: In Juninho we trusted
I truly believe in this, having experienced it first hand a number of years ago. My wonderful grandfather suffered from Alzheimer’s in his latter years, which he spent in a well kept nursing home near his house in N. Ireland. As his condition became worse and I struggled to understand it fully as a young teen, I remember that the mere mention of his beloved Tranmere Rovers and in particular a certain Mr. Aldridge would always spark his attention. Whether or not it actually did, talking about football with him brought us closer and some measure of comfort in those hard times. As a football journalist myself, I think this is a great cause, we never know what the future is going to hold and football evokes emotions within us that love the game that we will carry for life.
What a great Comment – thanks, Alan. I was thinking over the weekend, it really reminds me of the first line in Fever Pitch, even if that was written in a different context:
‘It’s in there all the time, looking for a way out.’