AFC Totton
GUARD OF HONOUR: Josh's father Ian and sister Alice are welcomed on to the Snows Stadium pitch for the Charity Football Match in aid of R;pple Suicide Prevention.
On Saturday afternoon (21 May 2022), the Snows Stadium staged a special Charity Football Event in memory of Josh Hendy, who died on 25 November 2020.
‘Josh’s Game’ was hosted by his father Ian and his sister Alice in order to raise awareness of the increasing rate of suicides in the UK and to generate funds to help fight back with an innovative online tool that intercepts people who are thinking about doing themselves harm.
R;pple Suicide Prevention is a charity set up by Alice Hendy in the wake of Josh’s passing. It has developed software designed to intercept vulnerable individuals who search for harmful content online relating to self-harm and suicide. Instead, it redirects them to a variety of mental health resources that are available 24/7 to provide the help and hope they so desparately need.
Sadly, R;pple wasn’t around to save Josh, but since the charity was launched in September 2021, the tool has been downloaded almost 280,000 times and, to date, has saved 23 people the charity is aware of.
As Ian Hendy said in his foreword in the matchday programme for this special charity match:
“We said if we could stop just one family from feeling how we do every day, then we would have succeeded.”
The scene at the Snows Stadium prior to kick-off.
On a warm, bright afternoon in Totton, the gates were opened at 1:00pm. With food and drink available from the bar and restaurant, as well as from stalls on the stadium concourse, the mobile shop that usually sells AFC Totton’s own Official Matchday Programme was well-stocked with a range of t-shirts, caps and other merchandise to raise valuable funds for the charity. Raffle tickets were also on sale, with a range of prizes that included a signed Southampton FC shirt from the Saints’ Spanish midfielder Oriel Romeu – who recently visited the Snows Stadium as a spectator to take in an AFC Totton match – and a Burnley shirt signed by their entire First Team squad.
Approximately 40 people agreed to play in the match on the Snows Stadium pitch, comprised of Josh’s friends and family, contributors to and volunteers of the R;pple charity and members of the AFC Totton First Team squad and management, together with the Club’s team of Media volunteers. They were split into two teams – R;pple FC, wearing a predominantly purple kit, and the R;pple Whites.
A brief match report follows this article, further down the page.
UP FOR THE CUP: Alice Hendy, the founder and CEO of R;pple Suicide Prevention, lifts the trophy after seeing her R;pple FC team beat R;pple Whites 7-4 at the Snows Stadium.
In her post-match address via the stadium’s PA system, Josh’s sister Alice Hendy, who is the Founder and CEO of R;pple Suicide Prevention, thanked everybody for coming to support the event:
“We can’t do things like this without your support. Bittersweet, today. We don’t really want to be here; we don’t want to be having to do things like this. But the reality is that there are lots of people out there struggling and every penny raised today will help people in that position. So, thank you for all the support you have given to me and my family.”
Alice then went on to pay tribute to her father, who is now employed by the R;pple Charity as Executive Administrative Officer, and to Harrison Read for organising the event. Then, players from both teams returned to the pitch for the trophy presentation and group photos, amid the melodic throng of Tina Turner’s ‘Simply The Best’ and the appreciative applause of the 250-strong crowd.
Returning to the PA system, Alice conducted the Raffle Prize Draw, in which a total of 22 prizes were handed out to the lucky winning-ticket holders.
Speaking after the event, she said:
“It’s been a brilliant day. We really couldn’t have asked for it to go any better. I have to say a massive thank you to Harrison Read and everyone at AFC Totton, without whom this wouldn’t have been possible. The money raised today will go a long way to helping us further develop the online technology that will help us to build life-saving tools.”
AFC Totton's First Team manager Jimmy Ball, said:
“The match itself was played in a great spirit, I really enjoyed it. We were winning 3-2 when I came off and we lost 4-7, so you can come to your own conclusions about that!”
“But, in all seriousness, unfortunately, we all know people who have been in situations where they have tried to hurt themselves, or have been thinking about taking their own lives, so anything we can do to help combat that is a wonderful thing. Hopefully, people have enjoyed themselves here today but it has also raised awareness and helped to raise funds so the excellent work that R;pple does can continue in earnest. It’s been a pleasure to be involved, if only in a small way.”
TL;DR – THE MATCH REPORT
Harrison READ, a Video Co-ordinator by day with the Smiley Movement non-profit organisation and who also volunteers as AFC Totton’s videographer, played an integral part in arranging and organising the event. So, it was fitting that he should score the first goal of the day, dancing between two defenders on the edge of the penalty area before stroking the ball into the bottom-right corner to give R;pple Whites the lead. He then immediately ran off the pitch and up the steps of the Wessex Heartbeat Stand to boast about his goal on the live YouTube coverage being provided by the StagsRadio team.
But it didn’t take long for R;pple FC to equalise, AFC Totton’s Jake Adams the creator, crossing high to the back post for Aaron Tucher to head down for a close-range Steve HOLLIS finish.
Read shot over the bar when a square pass to Peter Waterfield, the Olympic Silver Medal-winning Diver and father of Stags midfielder Lewis Waterfield, would have made for an easy finish. Nevertheless, the Whites re-took the lead in the 33rd minute, when Connor Evans slipped Freddie PEARCE into the inside-left channel for an accomplished finish into the far corner.
Jake ADAMS restored parity on 42 minutes, picking up a loose ball in midfield and driving forward down the centre for R;pple FC to strike home from just outside the box.
Seven minutes into the second-half, Alice Hendy teed up Laura PIKE for an impressive left-footed rasper from the edge of the area to put R;pple FC 3-2 ahead.
But, again, the response from the opposing side was swift. Straight from the kick-off, the ball was rolled back to Brett Williams whose 40-yard cross-field pass was brought under control by Harry BROOKWELL, coming in from the right flank to hit a slightly deflected shot beyond James Jenkins in the R;pple FC goal to make the score 3-3.
THOU SHALL NOT PASS: Richard Butler, in the purple shirt, puts a stop to Ant Lewis's attacking intentions, despite the presence of Peter Waterfield further up the right flank.
R;pple FC’s No.4 was a young lad of about 12 years, whose name was not listed on our teamsheet, so we decided to call him Charlie Bucket. Picking on somebody his own size, he raced past Jimmy Ball on his way into the penalty area but the Stags boss got back in time to deflect the cross wide for a corner.
Charlie Bucket, Ian Hendy and Jake Adams then combined to create an opening for Alice Hendy, but her shot was straight at the keeper when there was a yawning chasm to aim at in the bottom-left corner. Then, a Laura Pike effort was deflected to the feet of Charlie Bucket, whose well-struck drive crashed against the crossbar.
Benjy Rees, having stepped away from his StagsRadio commentary duties to take part in the match, was deservedly booked for a savage, unprovoked foul on Ian Hendy – though he claims he didn’t touch him… and replays confirm that he was right; he was nowhere near him!
The mercurial Charlie Bucket then tormented Jimmy Ball into back-tracking into his own area, before forcing Whites’ goalkeeper JB Burton to parry at his near post, only for Laura PIKE to finish on the rebound for her second goal of the game, putting R;pple FC 4-3 up.
Connor Evans then struck the crossbar from 5 yards out, missing the chance to put the Whites back on level terms.
Stuart Hillyer miss-judged a through-ball on 76 minutes to allow Webber to run clean through on goal. Hillyer made-up the ground to execute a superb recovery tackle outside the penalty area, only for the Referee Derek Pratt to erroneously point to the spot. Doug WEBBER, who hurt his hip in the fall, dusted himself off and rolled the penalty home with a Dimitar Berbatovesque nonchalance, to level at 4-4.
R;pple FC re-took the lead shortly after, though. Steve Hollis’s shot from near the penalty spot was parried by Burton, enabling Aaron TUCHER to gobble up the rebound.
Steve HOLLIS took advantage of a defensive mix-up in the R;pple Whites penalty area to put distance between the two sides at 6-4, with three minutes remaining.
The two Referee’s Assistants Harry Waldron and Kurtis Robinson joined the fray, swapping their touchline flags for a few minutes on the hallowed AFC Totton turf, with Doug Webber and the Stags’ CEO Steve Brookwell taking up the flags.
Jake ADAMS then notched his second goal of the game, running from deep to complete a one-two with Jon Leask, beating a defender to the ball on the edge of the penalty area and side-stepping the goalkeeper before completing the move with an easy finish, to make it 7-4 to R;pple FC.
Doug Webber led a late 4-vs-1 charge upon the R;pple FC goal, but Luke Wemyss inexplicably steered his shot wide of the left-hand upright, prompting Derek Pratt to blow the final whistle.
FINAL SCORE
R;PPLE FC 7
R;PPLE WHITES 4
To find out more about the work that R;pple Suicide Prevention does, please visit their website at www.ripplesuicideprevention.com
To make a donation, please go to www.justgiving.com/ripple-suicide-prevention
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Kieran Cox Photography
