Football team launched to help grieving fathers

The Forget-Me-Knot FC club meets every second Monday at Port Vale FC

An expectant father who lost his unborn son has set up a football team for men who have experienced baby loss.

James Routledge and his wife Sarah, from Stone, Staffordshire, found out they were losing their baby, Teddy, when they went for the 20-week scan in October 2024.

Mr Routledge said that while the couple went through the grieving process, he discovered that very little support existed for men who had been through similar situations.

Inspired by similar schemes in other parts of the country, he teamed up with the Port Vale FC Foundation and University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust to launch Forget-Me-Knot FC.

Mr Routledge told BBC Radio Stoke that, due to working in mental health care for 10 years, he was able to open up about his experiences more than many other men.

"I've since realised a lot of men don't feel able to do that or don't know how," he said.

"They feel like they have to be a rock for their partner or if they talk it will make them feel worse, so they bottle it up. A lot of men have experiences where they try to talk to people and people glaze over or close up.

"It's a difficult topic and not many people are equipped to talk to you about baby loss or about grief."

James Routledge said a lot of men feel unable to talk openly about grief

Mr Routledge said his wife was pregnant again and it had been a "real journey" for the couple, particularly as they were still grieving.

It gave them both some comfort, he added, which "filled the void of the loss" but they still think of Teddy as their first child.

Forget-Me-Knot FC held their first session in August and the group continues to meet at Port Vale in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, every other Monday.

The aim was to give grieving fathers a place to meet up, have a game of football and be with people who understand what they were going through, Mr Routledge said.

He admitted that even though he had been part of setting it up, he did not realise how much he needed it himself.

Speaking of people who showed up for the first time, he said: "The difference between how they come in and how they come out is so powerful."