The FMHA

The FMHA The Grassroots Mental Health Vault
FREE Mental health support tools for ALL in grassroots football.

Mental Health First Aid skills don't just help on the touchline.They help:✅ At work✅ At home with family✅ In your commun...
26/02/2026

Mental Health First Aid skills don't just help on the touchline.

They help:

✅ At work

✅ At home with family

✅ In your community

✅ With friends going through tough times

One delegate said:

"I found it very informative - it reinforced things I already knew and revealed many that I didn't. It's given me useful tools for football coaching but also my personal and work life."

The skills are universal. The training is tailored for football.

£39 per person | Certificated | 3 hours online

Includes:

- Digital certificate
- Club Mental Health Plan
- Club-branded social graphics
- Press release template

Next date coming soon → vault.thefmha.com/mental-health-first-aid-training

26/02/2026

𝟱𝟳% 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗿𝗼𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹.

Not adult leagues. Youth football. Under-18s.

That number sits with me, and that's why we built our training.

Not because children are inherently worse - they're not. But because children absorb the culture around them, and the culture around them is set by adults on touchlines who've never been taught anything about how their behaviour lands.

The research on this is clear. Emotional contagion - where one person's emotional state spreads to those around them - is faster and stronger in group settings where identity and loyalty are activated.

A football match is almost a perfect laboratory for it. Tribal instinct, perceived injustice, public setting, tight timeframes.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗺𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗲 - 𝗮𝘀 𝗣𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 - 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁: when an adult on a touchline loses control, every child watching is learning something. They're learning what acceptable behaviour looks like under pressure. And then they carry it onto the pitch.

Sanctions don't undo that lesson. Education before the flashpoint does.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗯 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗱𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺?

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲Somewhere in your academy right now, there's a player.Performs brilliantly in training bu...
25/02/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲

Somewhere in your academy right now, there's a player.

Performs brilliantly in training but falls apart on match day. Always the last to transition between activities. Has been described as "lazy" in at least one meeting. Gets on fine with coaches individually but struggles with teammates. Quiet enough that nobody worries about them. Decent technical ability - not exceptional, but decent.

That player might be neurodivergent.

Not diagnosed. Not flagged. Not on anyone's radar.

They'll stay in your programme for another season, maybe two, underperforming their potential. And then they'll leave - or you'll release them, and everyone will say "shame, they had something but just couldn't put it together." Meetings about why they didn't make it. Theories about mentality. Feedback about attitude.

What if the problem wasn't the player?

What if it was the environment?

We work with professional academies on exactly this question. We've built training and frameworks specifically for academy staff - coaches, managers, welfare officers, to understand how ADHD and autism show up differently in academy environments, and what actually helps.

If it's a question you've been asking yourself - or if you know there's something off but you can't quite name it - let's talk.

DM me.

25/02/2026

A parent/carer/guardian (PCG) loses it on the touchline over an offside call. Screaming. Red in the face. The referee is 17 years old.

Everyone watching thinks that PCG is out of control. And they're right. But Professor Steve Peters - the psychiatrist behind British Cycling and Liverpool FC's mental performance work - would say something more precise than that. The emotional brain fired before the rational brain had a chance to engage. The Chimp took over. And the Chimp is five times faster than the part of the brain that knows better.

That PCG almost certainly drove home embarrassed. Because when the rational brain catches up, it usually does.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: 98% of grassroots referees report verbal abuse. Assaults on match officials rose 32% in 2023-24. This isn't a discipline problem. It's an education problem. Sanctions come after the damage is done - nobody's teaching clubs why the behaviour happens, or how to stop it before the Chimp gets out.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁: the parent who shouts at a 17-year-old referee isn't a bad person. They're an untrained one. And clubs carry the consequences - under FA Rule E20, clubs can be charged for the behaviour of their spectators.

𝗔 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗳𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗜'𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀.

Do you?

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝘆'𝘀 𝗡𝗗 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆Most academies have the same gap.They do the right things for neurodiv...
24/02/2026

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝘆'𝘀 𝗡𝗗 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆

Most academies have the same gap.

They do the right things for neurodivergent players informally. Verbal agreements. Flexible coaching. Quiet conversations about what a player needs. But none of it's written down.

That's a problem.

If a parent files a complaint under the Equality Act, the question won't be "did you do the right thing?" It'll be "can you prove it?" Verbal adjustments with no paper trail are legally invisible. A tribunal won't care what you said over coffee.

They'll ask for documentation.

The fix isn't bureaucratic. It's four categories: Player Profile, Adjustments Log, Conversation Record, Review Cycle.

Takes about five minutes per player per month. Could save your academy five figures in litigation costs. Probably saves you more than that in staff time and stress.

We've been building a framework specifically for this. Not to add work — to replace the chaos with something that actually protects you.

If your club's doing good work with neurodivergent players but you've got no system to document it, that's exactly what we help with.

DM me if you want to know more.

24/02/2026

Referees get the least support of anyone in grassroots football. And when a neurodivergent player is involved in an incident, they're also the least equipped to handle it.

A player with ADHD doesn't always process a yellow card the way a referee expects. The immediate emotional spike - frustration, perceived injustice, difficulty regulating in real time - can look like dissent. The referee books him again. The player is now excluded from next week's game, and nobody has asked why the first reaction happened.

𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲: a brief conversation at kick-off between a referee and a coach - "one of my players has ADHD, he might react strongly to decisions, here's how I'll manage it" - changes the entire dynamic. The referee is informed. The player isn't walking into a context that doesn't account for how his brain works.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁: neurodiversity doesn't stop at the touchline. Referees, officials, opposition coaches - they're all part of the environment a neurodivergent player has to navigate every single weekend. Pre-match communication isn't making excuses. It's managing the environment so the game can actually happen.

𝟵𝟴% 𝗼𝗳 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗿𝗼𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗲. 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼'𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗱.

Referees and coaches - have you ever had a pre-match conversation like this?

Why do good people lose their heads on the touchline? It’s biology. We use Professor Steve Peters’ "Chimp Paradox" model...
24/02/2026

Why do good people lose their heads on the touchline? It’s biology.

We use Professor Steve Peters’ "Chimp Paradox" model - the same framework used by British Cycling, Liverpool FC, and England Cricket - to explain why the emotional brain reacts 5x faster than the rational brain.

Learn how to manage your inner Chimp and, more importantly, how to deal with someone else's. 🐵🧠

https://vault.thefmha.com/managing-anger-and-emotional-regulation-in-grassroots-football/

23/02/2026

𝗔𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝟯𝟬% 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹-𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁.*

That's not a workplace statistic that has nothing to do with football. That's the endpoint of a journey that starts much earlier - and in a lot of cases, grassroots sport is where the first rejections happen.

The player who gets dropped because he "doesn't respond to coaching." The kid who gets labelled difficult and finds himself gradually excluded from the group. The teenager who walks away from football at 14 and never finds another team environment that works for him.

Clubs don't set out to exclude neurodiverse players. But under the Equality Act 2010, clubs have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments - and most have no idea what that means in practice, let alone that failure to do so can put them at legal risk.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁: reasonable adjustments aren't a burden. A visual schedule before training. An agreed quiet space. Telling a player about a position change before the team sheet goes up rather than the morning of the game. None of that costs anything. But the absence of it costs players the game entirely.

𝗙𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝘁.



*𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵. 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 "𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦" 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘬.

"𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗺 - 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝗴𝗮𝗽. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗲'𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁....
21/02/2026

"𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗺 - 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝗴𝗮𝗽. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗲'𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁."
- 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗻𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘂, 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲

Check bi0 or link here: https://vault.thefmha.com/managing-anger-and-emotional-regulation-in-grassroots-football/

Address

Mirfield
WF148HW

Website

https://linktr.ee/dannymatharu

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