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Former footballer Marvin Sordell's big message: 'It's vital that we all open up about our mental health'.

Marvin Sordell has always had a passion for storytelling and film. The former Burton striker has also spoken candidly and powerfully about his own historic mental health struggles.

So he was keen to work with the FA in creating a unique film to promote World Mental Health Day last weekend.

Together with former Albion team-mates Will Miller and Harry Campbell, Sordell has formed the award-winning ONEIGHTY Productions which led the creative for the new video.

The film, which has been posted on all of the FA’s and England’s social media channels, places the viewer in the footsteps of an England men’s footballer as he prepares for a big game at Wembley Stadium. The narrative demonstrates the journey from call-up, to matchday and shows the importance of the support of teammates and the value of an honest and open conversation about mental health –

Filmed in March shortly before lockdown, the content features England manager Gareth Southgate and internationals Declan Rice, Fikayo Tomori, Harry Winks and Tyrone Mings.

Recognising the current challenges posed by the pandemic, the video calls for fans to ditch the handshakes and invest in more than the usual pleasantries with loved ones, urging them to ‘be there for your mates – even when you can’t be with them’.

It follows last season’s Heads Up campaign, a partnership between Heads Together and The FA, which harnessed the influence and popularity of football to change the conversation on mental health. Sordell supported and consulted throughout the campaign.

He said: “I’ve had the honour of being a supporter of the Heads Up campaign in a variety of ways since its inception and now I’m delighted to be involved creatively in this project for World Mental Health Day.

“As someone that has previously battled with mental health problems, I’m now a massive advocate for spreading awareness around the importance of conversation and sharing the problems we may encounter or face. We hope that with this video, it speaks to a different type of audience that would usually have this discussion, and in an even more relatable way”.

Sordell represented England at U21 level and Team GB at the 2012 Olympics. He played over 300 professional games, turning out for Bolton Wanderers and Burnley in the Premier League and playing for a number of League clubs, including 81 appearances for Watford and more recently 73 for the Brewers.

After more than a decade in professional football, he retired last year aged just 28, citing an ‘ugly side to the game’, including racism and bullying.

In an Instagram post on his retirement (https://www.instagram.com/p/B0YbhnhF7jx/), Sordell said that while he had lived his childhood dream and experienced some of the greatest highs in football, the ugly side of the game that many players are exposed to, had had a hugely detrimental effect on his mental health.

Speaking to NLP, Sordell said he did not regret his decision and has been much happier and more content.

He said it had often been difficult for players to speak up if they were having problems in case it counted against them.

“I get why players don’t speak about it, as well as the fact that there is that macho culture of ‘manning up’ which I think has slightly changed really in the changing room anyway.

“There are a lot of old school type managers who, that’s what they know. It's hard to blame them because that’s what they grew up in when they were playing.”

While he believes football is making some progress, it has a long way to go. It is still behind other sports in the kind of open conversations around mental health.

“Football’s seen completely differently to every other sport it seems. It’s just very strange.

“What is quite telling is that when anything happens to a football player, people just automatically go, ‘this person earns x, y, z probably’. Most often, that’s not even true anyway, but that shouldn’t be a factor in somebody’s humanity, how much they earn.”

ONEIGHTY Productions grew out of a conversation with Miller during their days at Albion. Sordell had found poetry a way to communicate his thoughts and emotions and started to share them with his loved ones and close friends. He stresses how important that self-reflection has been.

Miller, himself a songwriter, suggested to Sordell that they turned one of his poems into a short film. He had recently been working with videographer Maxwell Harris-Tharp to shoot videos for some of his songs.

“I’ve always been interested in storytelling,” said Sordell. “I've loved film and television since I was a kid. I never imagined that it was something that I would ever do, because I didn't know how possible it was. Over the last two years, I’ve come to realise that it’s actually something that I can do. There are so many different ways to be involved in filmmaking.

“We realised that our passions aligned, and we’d got some good ideas and good contacts, so let’s start a company and see where we go.”

The result was ONEIGHTY Productions, with Sordell, Miller Campbell and Harris-Tharp as co-founders. Among other projects is a series of short films for Yahoo about the darker side of football due later this year.

“So, we touched on things like mental health, and bullying, homophobia, racism," he said. "Everyone that speaks is speaking anonymously because they have to, pretty much. It speaks volumes that they have to really.”

He recently became a member of the FA’s Inclusion Advisory Board and has also been encouraged by football’s support for the Black Lives Matter campaign.

“I'm encouraged by the fact that we're having this conversation in the public domain on a very large scale.

“All we can do is just continue to have these discussions and for people to be empathetic with those who are in those shoes and live those experiences. That's a great starting place.”

Sordell has also focussed on issues of racism on a short film which he worked on during lockdown which has been entered in a number of film festivals and explores the experience of growing up as a black man and how society and racism affect a person.

Keen to share his experience and help others, he speaks regularly at conferences, schools, football clubs and companies, covering topics including mental health, wellbeing, elite performance, life as a professional athlete and identity. He has also spoken about living with depression for BBC Teach’s online classroom resources

To support those transitioning to a new life beyond football he recently launched a new networking community for footballers of all levels from the Premiership to Non League. Called Transition FC, it aims to give players the tools needed to build the bridge between playing and retirement from practical considerations to dealing with the emotional impact. It sounds the perfect role.