AFC Wimbledon first-teamers Deji Oshilaja and Will Nightingale dashed away from training to present medals to teams at a unique football tournament on Tuesday.
Club captain Deji and Will attended an Inclusive Sports Tournament for AFC Wimbledon Foundation’s disability groups with the Dons pair offering encouragement to teams from Generate and Kingston Mind.
The event was staged as part of the EFL’s Day of Action, which involved clubs around the country getting involved in community projects.
Deji Oshilaja said: “We want to build a relationship with these groups and let them know that they have our support. I think it’s a great opportunity for us to engage with people of all abilities in the community. For the club, it’s massive at the moment with the new ground coming up. We want to let them know that we are all a part of the same community. Everyone knows that we are a fan-based club. We care about our fans and we do a lot of work in the community.”
Based in Wandsworth, Generate runs programmes for adults with Down Syndrome, learning difficulties, or mental health problems. Mind in Kingston provides a range of services to local Mental Health Service users in the borough.
AFC Wimbledon Foundation Director Philip Rudling said: “This is a celebration of all the work carried out by the Foundation. We’ve hosted an adult learning disability tournament, involving a four-team tournament with a couple of groups that we work with. One of those is Generate, who are a learning disability charity from Wandsworth, and they are based about two minutes from Plough Lane. We’ve also hosted Kingston Mind and we’ve been doing a lot of work with them too so that they feel a part of our community.”
Take a look at our gallery of pictures above and below is an interview with Deji and Phil, thanks to Will Nightingale taking over reporting duties!
Pic credit: Andrew Fosker, EFL.