- 3 years ago
An interview with the founder of sports incentive group 'Happy Somedays' Joe Farrar
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00:00 There we go, again I'm holding the slide.
00:05 Yeah, so I just want to kick off by just finding out a bit more about the group really and
00:12 just kind of a general sort of how it began and obviously how long it's been going for.
00:17 Yeah, so we were officially founded in 2020 but it all kind of came together kind of randomly
00:27 in a quite beautiful way.
00:31 I'm pretty rubbish with years but I'll try and get it right.
00:33 So in 2015 I think I was playing a bit of Sunday League football, enjoying it, never
00:38 really done anything like that.
00:41 I just had not long got back from, I went to university in Leeds, not long got back
00:45 to Manchester.
00:46 So me and my friends set up a team, fast forward, I get a knee injury, a pretty bad one, arm
00:53 and knee ligaments, had to have an operation.
00:56 I was kind of told after my operation, don't think about playing football again, there's
01:01 a good chance I'll have a bit of a limp.
01:03 So as much as I wasn't the best player, I loved it, I loved being part of a group and
01:07 a team.
01:10 Fast forward to 2020 and I'm thinking to myself, I've not got a limp, I've been getting in
01:15 the gym and trying to lose a bit of weight because following the injury I put quite a
01:19 bit of weight on and stuff so my physical wellbeing probably weren't the best.
01:28 Due to that my mental health took a bit of a plummet, confidence was low, stuff like
01:32 that.
01:33 So I kind of got in touch with a few people I knew that were still in and around Sunday
01:37 League football and I didn't want to sign for any teams or anything, I probably weren't
01:41 good enough in the first place, I was just lucky I'd set a team up with my mates.
01:46 So I kind of got the hint, they didn't really want me to even train with them and I was
01:51 pretty gutted.
01:52 I got talking to a friend of mine and we were just chatting about my position and he said
02:00 he really wants to play football but he felt limited because he's a bigger guy and stuff
02:04 like that and I was like, this shouldn't really happen.
02:07 So we set up our own kickabout, I think the first one there was like six of us, we had
02:12 a bit of a three-a-side game or something which is really small and then we got up to
02:17 like five-a-side and then lockdown happened.
02:21 So coming to the end of lockdown, I think we can all remember the weekly updates we
02:27 got, as vague as they used to be, we started hearing things like 'organise sports outside'
02:33 and stuff like that and suddenly people are sending me WhatsApp messages, 'you're going
02:38 to start your kickabouts up again, I remember hearing about you and your mates'.
02:42 So I was like, yeah, I could set one up and straight away we had ten straight off the
02:45 bat and then word got out and we had to expand it and expand it and then suddenly within
02:50 less than three months we had 36 lads, full-size pitch split in half, nine-a-side games.
02:57 It was going really well and in its infancy it was really hard to manage because it just
03:03 kind of happened out of nowhere.
03:05 You set up a WhatsApp group and you get 30 people in it, 40 people in it and everyone's
03:08 chatting and it's dead nice.
03:10 Suddenly people were like, 'these sessions need a name'.
03:13 I can't remember who suggested it, I can't take credit but I think I always say, especially
03:19 in Manchester, I think a lot of cities are probably like this, but it's got two major
03:23 heartbeats, it's kind of like music and football.
03:26 I might be being biased because that's kind of my two biggest passions in life, other
03:30 than my son obviously, don't tell my partner I said, I forgot that.
03:34 Yeah, so it kind of exploded in that sense and then what was really nice was two girls
03:41 that I went to school with contacted me and said, 'we've always wanted to play football
03:45 but there's just nowhere for people like us to go and do it recreationally with no prior
03:50 experience and I'm not privy to women's football'.
03:55 So I didn't know the difficulties they had, so I said, 'cool, we'll book you the pitch,
04:00 we'll get you the equipment, fall under the same banner'.
04:03 But for me personally, and at this point it was only me kind of running things, I said
04:08 like, 'there's enough men interfering in women's hobbies and stuff like that, you only need
04:14 to go and see some of the bile on Twitter and you just know'.
04:18 So I said, 'do your own journey, I'm always here for advice, help, buy balls or bibs or
04:23 whatever'.
04:24 And theirs thrived and they started getting 20-25 people to sessions and it just kind
04:30 of went massive from there and it just showed the demand for it.
04:36 When we started getting a bit more structure, people say to me, 'how do we tell people what
04:43 Happy Sundays is about?'
04:44 And I was like, 'for me it needs to be a values-based theme, we're inclusive for everyone, we've
04:51 got people that come to our sessions, the members of the LGBTQ+ community, we've got
04:58 people of all different religions, races, we've got players there that are neurodiverse,
05:03 participants that have physical disabilities, visual impairments, and then you've got people
05:09 that are quite open and frank and have spoke about their battles with mental health and
05:14 stuff'.
05:15 And ours has grown that much, sticking to our guns and our ethos, our values, as we
05:22 kind of flirt around calling them.
05:25 We do fitness sessions now, free for the community, we have people aged 13-60 odd, we do badminton,
05:34 we've done organised walks, charity walks, we've partnered with so many amazing groups,
05:40 it's been a real journey over the last four years actually, it's crazy to think.
05:45 Yeah, it sounds brilliant, it's brilliant to hear how the groups kind of spawned from
05:50 just being somewhere to play football recreationally, and I know their experience, that there isn't
05:58 that many places like that around, you know, if you join a session then it ends up being
06:03 a league and you have to make your own team and it gets that bit more official, but obviously
06:08 a kick around what you guys have set up, which is obviously now developed into other sports.
06:13 So it's interesting, I read a few things on Twitter about how you're not actually, you
06:19 aren't classed as a football club, what would be the overall kind of, if you were to describe
06:27 what Happy Sundays is in a few words, is that possible to do?
06:32 Yeah, well it constantly evolves, but we always kind of say, we get mistaken for a club and
06:39 whilst, you know, it's not the end of the world, I'm a bit like, 'ah', because I think
06:45 a big pull for what we do is people don't feel that, you know, there's almost pressure
06:50 with commitment, you've got to be at training, you've got to be at games, you've got to pay
06:54 subs, you've got to do this, you've got to sign on, blah blah blah, whereas with us,
06:57 some people come every week, some people come once a month, some people come, you know,
07:01 a guy came the other week, I've not seen him for a year, it was great to see him, but I'm
07:05 not going to be, what's happening, where are you?
07:07 So for us, we call ourselves an incentive, but again, with that evolution, it's becoming
07:12 like, it's not like, we used to say, you know, we're a sports incentive, it's becoming more
07:19 like a social sports platform, because we have a podcast, so one of the participants
07:25 was keen to do that and, you know, speak to people about their lives and how it kind of
07:29 ties in with what Happy Sundays is about, values or sports, you know, and he's off doing
07:34 that and then, you know, other people come to, it's just, yeah, I'd say incentive, but
07:39 it's just, it's like people helping people write CVs and doing jobs, it's become such
07:46 a, you know, a platform for people to support each other, a network for people to support
07:51 each other and I see Happy Sundays as almost this platform now that's helping people achieve
07:56 what they might not have thought they could achieve, because I've always been supported
08:01 by, you know, my family and life, so, you know, I was one of those kids that, I want
08:05 to try field hockey, oh yeah, cool, we'll go, you know, and they come and watch me play
08:09 field hockey and then I'll be doing rugby the next week, you know, glasses on, running
08:12 round blind, like, I've always been encouraged and I think that's obviously rubbed off, so
08:16 yeah, overall I'd say, you know, we're an incentive, I don't, people laugh at me because
08:22 when people go, you know, oh yeah, I play for Happy Sundays football team, I'm like,
08:27 you know, because there is, for me there's a grey area because there's so many, because
08:32 we do do games and we, you know, we see them as networking opportunities but like, we've
08:37 played games where teams have said, oh, we're the same, you know, we're pannability, you
08:43 know, because we do have some players that you could probably say, if they really wanted
08:47 to, they could probably go and play on a Sunday league team, but they don't want to because
08:51 they don't like that world, and we've got players, you know, like, I'm nowhere near
08:56 a good footballer but I love it, get involved, you know, we've had teams that have gone,
09:01 we're all about X, Y and Z, these are our values, which, you know, I'm sure they are
09:04 and they want to promote mental health but then they've turned up with like a team of
09:08 Saturday league players, semi-pros and we've been absolutely bad and then it's really hard
09:13 for me because then I've got to try and pick people back up that we're trying this because
09:18 they've always wanted to do it and it's hard, so we always kind of make it clear to people
09:23 we're an incentive, we're not a team, you know, we could have an 11-1 week and then
09:27 it's totally different the next week, we've turned up to games with no keeper and had
09:30 to wing it and stuff like that, so it's fun but it can be a bit stressful.
09:34 Yeah, it kind of sounds like it's the fun of Saturday, Sunday league football but without
09:40 the responsibility, which I guess is as you say, you know what I mean, it's what a lot
09:44 of people want I suppose.
09:47 Yeah, like I said, I played Sunday league and for the most part I enjoyed it and then
09:52 I ended up running the team after my injury and I hated it and even to the point, you
09:58 can have wobbles and especially since the girls came on board and you get chatting to
10:03 some and we've got podcasts on it and a few of the girls have done interviews and stuff
10:08 and just hearing stories of how people have been told, you know, my story's not that bad,
10:15 you know, who wants a, I was an overweight guy with a dodging knee, I could kind of get
10:20 why they didn't want me to come down and train, they probably thought I was going to keel
10:23 over and we're going to get sued or something but, you know, the girls, there's plenty of
10:27 them out there that are just really keen to have played football and they've been shunned
10:31 from an early age, like school age, no girls playing netball and it's like, these girls
10:36 are thriving now and we've had girls come to our sessions, play and then they've gone,
10:41 you know, I'm going to go and sign for a local team because I've got that confidence and
10:47 I don't want to kind of, not kind of take the mickey out of the people that they're
10:52 playing with at Happy Sundays but they're like, and I don't see that as a bad thing
10:56 either, like if one of our lads comes up to me and goes, you know what, I never thought
10:59 I'd be able to play Saturday or Sunday league but I'm going to give it a go, I'll be like,
11:03 that's what it's about, giving people that confidence to do it but then if people want
11:06 to stay as well, it's even better for me because, you know, every week we're playing on different,
11:12 we have our sessions on a Tuesday night, we're always on different teams and you're meeting
11:15 different people and, you know, it's just crazy how well it's gone actually. I always
11:24 say like, it's credit to everyone that comes, the participants, because if they don't buy
11:28 into that original kind of ethos, it'll just suddenly turn into, you know, Power League
11:34 where everyone wants to fight and fall out and stuff like that and it's nothing like
11:38 that, it goes like an absolute dream, it's really good.
11:42 So basically you're saying that when you have players who come and try out the sport for
11:46 the first time and then, you know, if they enjoy it, their confidence goes and they move
11:50 on to say, you know, more of a sort of organised, you know, professional team, obviously you
11:54 take that as a compliment because you've kind of done, almost done your part kind of thing
11:58 in giving people the support.
12:00 Yeah, I've never like described what we're doing as like a stepping stone but like, you
12:04 know, I've seen other groups that get a bit funny like if someone wants to do that but
12:09 if someone was to ring me up or text me like, look Joe, I'm just letting you know I'm signing
12:13 for a football team, the sessions have really helped me get fit or get confident or just
12:18 overcome a fear, then I see that as a success for everyone because, you know, they've achieved
12:26 something that they wanted to achieve, if they didn't want to do that, they wouldn't
12:28 go and do it and like, you know, my achievement was, I got told I was going to have, you know,
12:34 I'll be walking with a limp, I've never played football again and I'm, you know, at the minute
12:39 I'm not because I pulled a muscle in my back, well that's another story but, you know, I've
12:43 been playing football pretty much since January, you know, I've lost a stone in a bit, I've
12:46 been playing football every week, we've had a couple of games and I've, you know, I'm
12:50 buzzing, like my mental health's great and I think the old, for everyone that kind of
12:56 does these things, little bits of it encounter and do that but the most wonderful thing I've
13:02 always thought about being part of a team like, you know, I played for my school team
13:05 and then my Sunday league team, it's just kind of having that, you know, I'm a very
13:09 social person, I like, you know, chatting to different people, like we have, you know,
13:14 the lads, the lads WhatsApp's like over 100 people and it's people chatting and then the
13:19 social side of it, it's just, it's good and there's people there who have told me like,
13:24 they felt like they had no friends and then I'll log on Facebook or Instagram and I'm
13:28 seeing pictures of them with other people from Happy Sundays, like at pub quizzes or
13:32 going on walks together and stuff and I'm just like, that's what it's about, I don't
13:37 think some people realise how sport, football especially, can kind of unite people and create
13:42 all these little cliques, I want to say cliques, like it can be taken quite negatively that
13:47 word but it is nice to see, I, you know, and we've not had a marriage yet but I don't know
13:52 if we're far off, I'm sure there's some possibilities.
13:55 Next on the agenda in the next few years.
13:58 Yeah, I might have to start a Hen and Stag company.
14:03 Get a fund going just in case.
14:05 Yeah.
14:06 Hopefully.
14:07 Yeah, so, I know obviously you said that you've played, you're playing some more and more football
14:11 games now and I've noticed that you play obviously teams who are outside Greater Manchester and
14:18 I'm just curious as to how that came about and sort of roughly how many teams outside
14:22 of Manchester do you guys kind of have your games with?
14:25 Yeah, so, again like, I've not had a personal Twitter for donkey jays and then I was like
14:31 I'm going to have to set Twitter up here and it scares me.
14:35 So we set up a Twitter and then we kind of just put out what we're about and all of a
14:42 sudden a couple of groups had followed us and got in touch and then one of the lads
14:47 that used to come to our sessions, he still lives locally but he's originally from Congleton
14:52 so it's just outside, we were talking for a bit and he was saying like, oh, you know,
14:58 could I set up Happy Sundays Congleton and I was like, it's nice and it's flattering
15:02 but do your own, like, you know, we're not a business, we're completely volunteer led.
15:08 If he'd have gone, I don't, I want it to be that then it might have been a different conversation
15:11 but he went off and set up his own so, you know, we did a little bit with them and it
15:16 was just through social media so, you know, Wales has got quite a few really nice groups
15:20 of like groups and teams that are of the same kind of ethos and mindset.
15:26 So we've been over to Wales a couple of times, been to Blackpool a couple of times and, you
15:31 know, it's the hardest thing is, especially for us, like, you know, we're self-funded
15:36 and it's completely volunteer led and, you know, pitches, where we live in Manchester,
15:41 like, there's a lot of football teams so pitches are like gold dust.
15:45 So we only this year kind of got a permanent home because we were fortunate enough to get
15:50 lottery funding so we can keep, hopefully get funding again and keep that going.
15:56 Just to secure it, years before that we were bouncing around venues, we were playing, the
16:01 girls were at one pitch on one side of Wythenshawe where we live and then we were at the other
16:05 one but the lads were nine till ten, which I love football but sometimes playing nine
16:10 till ten in the rain in December was just, yeah, but we were still getting 36 so we've
16:16 got a real nice hub at a local school now and, you know, they look after us.
16:22 So we're able to kind of host teams there as well because, you know, we can book the
16:26 pitch at the weekends if need be and then we love travelling.
16:29 We'd love to do more like, you know, if I had a magic wand then I could, you know, I'd
16:34 love to have like a little bus or something where we can say, right, because there's a
16:38 lot of teams like down south and stuff and, you know, there's teams over in Ireland that
16:44 are doing similar things and it'd be great to just, you know, go and just, I call them
16:49 like networking friendlies and I find networking sounds like really like business money but
16:54 I just go and have a game of footy with them, have a laugh and then go back after the game
16:59 and have a drink and a bite to eat and just chat and, you know, I've found myself in a
17:04 position where a lot of people have come to me, you know, how do you do this, how do you
17:07 do that and we've bounced ideas off each other.
17:09 It's just, you know, I think everyone's kind of supporting each other.
17:13 It's not, it's never a competition for me like, you know, this is why I kind of got
17:18 away from like Power League and goals and stuff like that because they're all kind of
17:22 trying to compete to be the best but, you know, for me if there's another group like
17:28 Happy Sundays pops up down the road, I'm not like, oh no, I'm like this is great, like
17:33 let's get in touch with them.
17:35 Another group where we live in Wiminshaw has just started and they've set up like a mental
17:39 health awareness football team and like, you know, I'm trying to get them a kit, I'm trying
17:44 to help them out like it's, you know, it's only going to enrich my community.
17:47 I'm quite, you know, proud of where I'm from.
17:50 So yeah, it's good and the ones, you know, we want to visit as many as we can.
17:54 It's a bit difficult but the ones we have visited, Wales, Blackpool, they've been really
17:58 nice, Fleetwood, they've been awesome.
18:00 Fantastic.
18:01 Yeah, have you played the interesting thing called Jumpers for Goalposts in Wales?
18:07 Jumpers for Goalposts, yeah, they're really, really nice.
18:10 I was actually part of that.
18:12 Was you?
18:13 Yeah, my first job in journalism, I worked at the local paper in Aberystwyth.
18:18 Right.
18:19 So yeah, at the start of that sort of like when this came up, I'm sure, so I follow the
18:26 Jumpers for Goalposts social media still, it's like, I'm sure Happy Sundays have, you
18:31 know, had games against them and stuff.
18:33 Yeah, they came to us Jan 23 and then we went to them in the May or the June.
18:41 I know it was an absolutely glorious day.
18:43 It was like the hottest day ever.
18:44 It was so nice and then we kind of, we got a little bit of funding so we was able to,
18:50 and we got a good deal because our mate, one of our guys, was a coach driver so we managed
18:54 to put a coach on.
18:56 And like, you know, where we live in Womenshaw, there's, you know, there's poverty, I think
19:02 there's poverty everywhere now, unfortunately.
19:03 We're in the cusps of a cost of living crisis.
19:06 That's why a big thing we do is like, if anyone wants to do our sessions for free, they can.
19:11 So we operate on like an honesty box approach and we call it Take Part On Us.
19:14 So you can pay for the session or you can not pay.
19:18 I would just kind of say to people like, they know the score, no one gets a wage, you know,
19:23 the girls are brilliant, they don't lose footballs, but the lads lose a lot of footballs.
19:27 They're not cheap.
19:28 If I got the cheap ones, they'd probably kick off with me.
19:32 But like, you know, we have this honesty box approach.
19:35 But then what's really nice is when we go and play these teams like Jumpers, we're taking,
19:39 we was able to say to people, if you want to bring your kids, bring your kids, you know,
19:42 we subsidised it heavily.
19:45 And there's people there like, the kids haven't been out of Manchester for years, right?
19:49 And it's nice to kind of give them that experience.
19:53 And then like a couple of years ago, Manchester United got to the Youth FA Cup final.
19:59 And it was like a pound a ticket.
20:01 So we operate with a committee now.
20:03 So it was me on me on for a bit.
20:04 And then I was like, felt like two full time jobs.
20:08 So I put out to the checks and said, look, let's form a committee, roles.
20:13 So I went to the committee and said, look, can we put £50 down and get 50 tickets and
20:18 let people take in the kids to Old Trafford for the first time in it?
20:22 Might not be the first time, but you know, we got to watch the likes of Guy Nacho win
20:26 the FA Youth Cup.
20:28 Hopefully it's a Ballon d'Or winner with United, Champions League winner.
20:32 They could all name drop that.
20:34 So, you know, it's yeah, it's awesome.
20:37 It's gone really well.
20:39 I waffled by the way, so I do apologise.
20:41 No, that's absolutely fine.
20:43 And yeah, to be honest Joe, that was kind of the end of the questions really.
20:46 You've gone into so much detail there.
20:48 I'll be able to kind of go through and get an article written up and clip up some video
20:53 clips and it'll be out earliest tomorrow afternoon, probably later in the week.
20:58 Yeah, that's fine mate.
20:59 Yeah, if you need, like we've just put a load of photos and stuff up on, I don't know what
21:04 the rule is on photos, but I don't think the people will mind if you want to have any.
21:09 Yeah, we might need.
21:12 If you pick a couple, I'll just ask the people that are in them.
21:15 I'll pick a couple out then I'll just email them over and then we can get them.
21:18 Yeah, that's fine.
21:19 I'm pretty sure they'll be alright.
21:21 But yeah, I can do that.
21:22 That's great, that's much appreciated.
21:23 That's cool though that you were at Jumpers.
21:26 Yeah, like I said, I was there in sort of the first summer and I moved away because
21:32 of work and I think, again, that started off really small and then it was sort of, I think
21:38 by the time I left, they were getting, like the old week, they were getting 10 or 12.
21:42 Like hit and miss.
21:43 But obviously that was when the sun was coming around and as you said, everyone wants to
21:48 play football more in the sun than the rain, don't they?
21:51 Yeah, we had a couple, like we've sold out like the last couple of weeks now, but there
21:56 was a little spell.
21:58 First week after Christmas, I thought it's always quiet, it was sold out.
22:01 The one after it was sold out, then we had two or three weeks where I say it's dropped.
22:06 It's like we had like 22, 23, 24.
22:10 I don't panic anymore.
22:11 Back then I was like, because I think the data side of it, I'm like, oh, you know, we're
22:16 paying for a pitch and we might not need it.
22:19 But then I'm just like, there's another football team locally and I know they're struggling
22:23 for a pitch.
22:24 I'm like, you can use half of our pitch this week if you want to get a few of your lads
22:27 out for a bit of fitness and they do.
22:29 So we're trying to help them out.
22:31 It can be quite difficult because there is, Wivenshaw's got two really good, it's got
22:37 two really good semi-pro clubs that have got a lot of kids teams and there's a club that's
22:42 all kids teams that are massive, who are really good.
22:44 So the pitches are like, we've got a lot round there and they're always fully booked.
22:52 This is, you know, it's a popular sport, but no, I enjoyed speaking to you mate, it's cool.
22:56 I thought Jamie, we were chatting.
22:58 Yeah.
22:59 I need to get him up here actually.
23:01 Are you based in Manchester now?
23:03 So at the minute I'm kind of, I'm not based in Manchester yet because we had a bit of
23:08 a shake up.
23:09 I'm hoping to be at some point.
23:11 I'm only about an hour away, so I come up a few times a month and sort of go out and
23:17 about.
23:18 Yeah.
23:19 So yeah.
23:20 Like, is Manchester World in it?
23:22 Are they part of another group, like an umbrella group or something?
23:25 Yeah.
23:26 So we're in, that's like Leeds I think, is it?
23:28 Yeah.
23:29 So the company's National World.
23:30 That's like, that's a company.
23:31 Yeah.
23:32 So we've got, there's one in Liverpool, Manchester.
23:34 Yeah.
23:35 And obviously the big established ones we've got are the Yorkshire Post, Yorkshire Evening
23:40 Post and the Scotsman.
23:41 Yeah.
23:42 So we've had for...
23:43 Yeah, I used to live in Leeds, so I did for a year.
23:48 Yeah.
23:49 I do miss it, but...
23:50 It was JPI then.
23:51 It's only been National World for a couple of years.
23:54 Right.
23:55 Yeah.
23:56 I think, I just, I can't remember who it was.
23:57 I remember someone sharing some, I think they were doing some of the Yorkshire Post stuff,
24:01 someone like that.
24:02 I did film and TV at uni, but it never ended up happening.
24:05 I'm a community manager now at a tech firm, so...
24:08 Yeah, well, we'll see.
24:09 But no, it was a pleasure to speak to you, mate.
24:11 Like I say, send them photos over and I'll just check with whoever's in them, but there's
24:15 plenty on the Facebook page to get.
24:17 Yeah, thanks.
24:18 That's much appreciated, mate.
24:19 It's been a pleasure.
24:20 Thanks very much.
24:21 Take care.
24:22 Thank you.
24:23 Bye-bye.
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