It's a Wednesday afternoon and the founders of Granby Toxteth Athletic sit at a table in Coffee Lodge on Lodge Lane.
Yusuf Yassin, dressed in a camouflage rain jacket and tracksuit bottoms, sips from a mug of tea, while his friend and co-founder Zak Hassan, sporting a Granby Toxteth Athletic jacket, holds a coffee. The pair are warm and inviting, eager to engage in conversation.
The only time they pause while telling their story is to raise a hand in acknowledgement as a familiar face walks past the window. This happens a lot. "That's Toxteth for you - we all know each other," Yusuf explains with a smile. These small acknowledgements give a glimpse into the pair's love for their community and the people who live in it, which was the fundamental reason behind the creation of Granby Toxteth Athletic.
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Granby Toxteth Athletic, or GTA as all those involved with the club call it, is a community interest company (CiC) using sport as a means of bringing together and supporting the Toxteth community. Originally started as a football club in August 2021, the club quickly took on a new purpose when it became a CiC two months later.
"It happened very organically," Yusuf, 27, explains. "I first had the idea in lockdown about starting a football team but with a focus on community organisation. Covid was the catalyst and I had a lot of things going on in my personal life, so I thought I'd go back to doing something I enjoy."
"Yusuf had the original idea and has the expertise; he has his coaching badges," Zak, 23, interjects. "But I had the time and the community links already. I'm a community champion and work with the Merseyside Somali community helping with health and medical services and the language barrier.
"So the club has grown from there. The sport and the community focus is a representation of our area. We're an organisation by the people, for the people. We want to give a voice to the voiceless."
Although the original concept from Yusuf was just a football team, Granby Toxteth Athletic has grown to also have a basketball team and a walking club, focusing on supporting the mental health of its members. Part of the success of both the football and the basketball teams comes from the "gap in the market".
The area around Lodge Lane doesn't have an another adult football team, and the last basketball team, Toxteth Tigers, stopped 10 years ago. "Toxteth has so much untapped potential, so we wanted to be able to give our community a platform to express themselves," Yusuf explains.
But the club goes far beyond just sport. Yusuf and Zak have plans to expand to support their community with focuses on education, rehabilitation and mental health. Some of the club's members recently became qualified mental health first aiders with the help of First Person CiC.
"There are some services out there, but a lot of people in our communities don't know how to access them," says Zak. "We want to become almost like a gap in between the services and the community so people can get the support they need. We want to give back and help wherever we can."
The talk turns to the basketball match later that evening. Granby Toxteth Athletic are playing away to Husters United at the Liverpool John Moores University sports building on Brownlow Hill. Although technically an away game, Yusuf and Zak are confident the team will still draw a strong following crowd.
Deciding to walk to the sports centre from Lodge Lane, the pair lead the ECHO through the areas where they grew up. Yusuf and Zak greet almost everyone who passes them by name, and point out houses and shops as they walk on, recalling distinctive memories of each one. They nod towards the Tiber football centre, just off Lodge Lane, to indicate where they play their home matches.
"We couldn't call ourselves Granby Toxteth Athletic and then play our home matches in Wavertree," Yusuf laughs. They continue on their journey towards the city centre, walking up Mulgrave Street and onto Granby Street. Yusuf adds: "We've lived in this area all our lives - I can never imagine living anywhere else. Home is where the heart is. We have a love for this area. It never leaves you - you have it for life."
But the pair do admit the area has changed since they were children. They explain when they were younger there were a number of youth centres where they regularly spent a lot of their time. Yusuf points to the Caribbean Centre as they pass, identifying it as one of the places he went as a child.
"The services we had as a kid aren't there anymore," Yusuf adds. "Without those services, kids end up feeling disconnected and at risk of falling of the edge. People have stereotypes of Toxteth and if young people are constantly told they're something they start to believe it. It's our job to break down those stereotypes and offer opportunities for the young'uns."
Yusuf and Zak arrive early at the sports building, but are soon joined the rest of the team. They were right; a crowd has made the short journey over from Toxteth. The basketball team is coached by Emile Coleman, a sports entrepreneur who has worked with some of the biggest names in football.
Born and raised in Toxteth, but now living in Wirral, Emile came on board with Granby Toxteth Athletic after meeting Yusuf and Zak at the basketball team's home court at Fire Fit. "He wants to give back to the area that gave him so much when he was younger," Zak says. "He wants to help the players better themselves. He grew up as a white man in Toxteth surrounded by all the different cultures and that's something that's stayed with him."
The cultural diversity is clear to see in the basketball team. There are Somalis, Pakistanis, Jamaicans, Yeminis, white British - all Scouse, and all playing under the banner of Granby Toxteth Athletic. "This is what our community is," says Yusuf. "There's no other place like it."
The game ends with a win to Granby Toxteth Athletic, with the team coming from behind to claim the victory. Just days later, on Saturday afternoon, the football team are at home at the Tiber football centre to Salisbury FC.
It's a big day for the club; they're unveiling a new sponsor and a new kit. The sponsor reached out to the club after following them on social media and praising what they were doing. "It's nice to see that what we're doing is getting recognition considering we've only been going for around a year," Yusuf says.
So what does the future hold for Granby Toxteth Athletic? Even though the club's still in its formative years, Yusuf and Zak hope the club can continue to grow, supporting more young people in the community, bridging service gaps and using sport as a means of bringing people together.
For now though, they're happy with what they are doing; being a voice for their community and inspiring the next generation. As Zak puts it, "we're making kings, not kingdoms".
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