Angels United: Football team helps bereaved dads cope with grief

A group of dads who have lost a child say forming a football team has helped them cope with their grief.

Angels United marked the start of Baby Loss Awareness week with a memorial match on Sunday against Sands United, another team of bereaved fathers.

Both sides, from Greater Manchester, aim to help the men support each other and open up about their loss.

Angels United, described as "the club no-one wants to be a part of", began by offering online help in lockdown.

The football team then grew out of that online support group.

Founder member Jimmy Riley said his partner was 28 weeks pregnant when they found out their baby boy Alfie had died.

"We went and the sonographer looked at us and we just knew we knew straight away we just had to be there for one another," he told BBC North West Tonight.

"He [Alfie] will never get to kick a ball, I'll never know what he will look like."

Mr Riley said playing for the team had helped him and said the members were always contacting each other to make sure they were OK.

All the players wear the name of their child on the back of their shirts.

One of the newest members Jake Pugh, whose daughter Lily-Mai died of cancer, said playing for the club was more than just a game of football.

"It's hard to explain if you haven't lost a child," he said.

"If you're having a bad day you know what everyone else in the team is going through."

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