Lincoln United have announced the creation of the club’s first-ever disability team.
The team, Lincoln United Disability FC, has been created as a result of Lincoln Disability FC coming under The Whites’ umbrella. They felt it was the “right time” to join the non-league club.
Gemma Bell, the club’s junior director and community football lead spoke to The Linc about the new team, and said: “We’ve always wanted to do disability football, and JJ, our kit man, is a massive part of Lincoln United. It’s important for me that we get to watch him play football again, because he stopped for various reasons. Bringing disability football under the club means he can play again for the club he loves.”
Twenty-four-year-old Jack Johnson, known as ‘JJ’, is Lincoln’s kit man, and will play a part in the new disability team.
Bell, 37, added: “Football is his absolute biggest passion. JJ is just all about Lincoln United, he’s on the end of the phone for anything I ever need. He’s so passionate, he knows every player. It’s the icing on the cake to help him play football again.”
In quotes posted on Lincoln United X (formerly Twitter) account, Jackson said he was “really excited” to represent the club’s disability team.
Bell explained: “Anything that is outside of first team and development team I look after, I’m in charge of looking after what we have at the club. Disability football is something we’ve always wanted to do and we’ve got a good connection with another club who wanted to grow their provision.”
Lincoln’s junior director said she wants to add a youth team to the disability side of the club, adding that it was “massively important” to her because of her son’s own experiences with autism.
“My passion for football came from the way it has impacted by eldest son. He has Asperger’s, so his autism lays in communications and building relations. Football has been massive in helping him in that. Being able to assess a sport is huge for people like him,” Bell said.
Newly-elected Lincoln MP Hamish Falconer described it as a “lovely new initiative” in a post on his X account.
The team will enter the Lincolnshire Ability Counts League, which starts in September, if they application is accepted.
Feature Image Credit: Lincoln United FC