Proud To Captain My Country

Matt Crossen, England

England Football (The FA) and Goal Click teamed up for a special series telling the story of disability football in England through the eyes and words of those involved across elite and grassroots disability football - including players, coaches, young leaders, and referees.

My name is Matt Crossen. I am from Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, and I currently play for and captain the England Cerebral Palsy (CP) para team.

I was always interested in football, but I first got involved quite late at 12 years old after watching my younger brother play and my grandad taking us to watch Middlesbrough reserves, back when Juninho was playing. From there my football appetite grew and I decided to join a team.

I started playing for Stockton West End FC, then moved to Hartburn Juniors which is now Stockton Town. Trials came and went for professional sides and a few of my friends left for professional teams, but we had one of the top sides in the area for our age. We won national tournaments and challenged for our league every year too.

At 16 I moved to Norton United and made my Northern League debut, moved to a couple of clubs to gain experience, before moving to Marske United at the end of 2012. Under chairman Peter Collinson we reached the first-round proper of the FA Cup against Southport - we gave a good account of ourselves but got beaten 5-2.

I suffered an injury in the game that followed and a few weeks later I suffered a stroke, which caused my left side to be paralysed and left me unable to walk.

I was 23. I spent a night in intensive care and a further 5 nights in hospital.

My stroke was completely out of the blue and a huge shock to me. It may have been caused from the head clash I had previously a few weeks before but who knows? I believe everything happens for a reason. Maybe I just was not on the path I needed to be on for what was planned for me.

The morning I woke up after being in intensive care, the surgeon initially told me that it would be difficult to play football again, based on the trauma I had been through.

But my team at the time kept sending through updates, and I had lots of visits from friends, teammates, and family. My mentality switched.

It sounds daft and corny, but when it was time for rehab, something inside me whispered “if you can walk, you can run…the rest is up to you.” That is all I heard. And that is how my comeback started.

I had to wrestle against the paralysed left side of my body and do absolutely everything to kick start my recovery. I relearned to walk, write, brush my teeth, and speak all over again.

I re-joined a gym and did spin sessions to get my coordination going and my receptors firing properly. Thankfully I had a close-knit group around me which kept me going and my grandad (although he never ever pushed me) was always having a gentle word to keep on track.

As my functions came back to my left side, I was left with a permanent pins and needles feeling and to this day it is still with me as a little reminder.

6 months later, I was in full training back with Marske United and I received a call from Jeff Davis at The FA to ask for me to trial with the England CP first team. At first, I thought it was a joke! Fast forward and I am now 7 years into my England career and currently captain.

CP football has 30-minute halves, no offside, and the pitch is just a little shorter than an 11 a side pitch, so obviously you need to be fit to get about! We have training regimes and full-time training plans to stick to.

CP football gave me the chance to play at the highest elite level for England. Nothing else can top that.

Football to me is like a member of the family. It has always been there and always will be there after my career. I do not think I could function without football. It is everything. I cannot go a day without a football reference.

Now the 2022 IFCPF World Cup in Barcelona is coming up.

My ambition is to be the first England captain since 1966 to win a World Cup. And the first in England CP history to win a medal.

These photos were taken at St. George’s Park (the home of the England teams) at a pre-tournament training camp and also in Norton in Teesside, where I play for a local side to keep fit in preparation for the World Cup. I wanted to show players from the England team, especially a couple of players making their debuts. They are experiencing their first steps in international football.

We have a lot of togetherness going into the World Cup. We are a close-knit group and for all of us it has been a journey we have loved.

I wanted to show our intensity, how focused we are, and the training drills we do to keep concentration high. At training, when you see the balls and goals set out, you get goosebumps knowing the elite level and the standard of the pitch.

Preparing for a World Cup brings a lot of excitement and focus – it is the pinnacle of any international player’s career.

I am always confident going into tournaments. We have a tough group, but we have some of the best players in the world of CP football and big names in the sport. Our team has been together for a long time, and even the new lads are treated like family. We all look out for each other. Hopefully make history.

After my career I would love to become involved in bringing youth through the ranks of the para program, as there are a lot of quality para players out there.

There are not many CP teams in my area, but with the coverage I have received personally, it has certainly made its way to the surface and many local people know about it now.

Para football as a whole is on the up and you are seeing more players becoming popular, with brands like Nike acknowledging and promoting us alongside the work The FA and England Football are doing.

The FA and England are pushing the para squads and have good plans to drive our sports forward. England are pushing our team a lot more in advertising and social media, which is brilliant and gives us exposure.

More TV coverage would change everything. We need to be more visible.

I would encourage anyone with cerebral palsy to give CP football a try. If you stick with it, you could travel and play in some of the most amazing football places on earth. And if you make it all the way to the elite level at England, you will never ever forget the moments you experience.

I am showing what a normal lad from Stockton-on-Tees can do.

I want to inspire people and show what it is like on the CP circuit, where I play, and what I do. If I can trigger something for someone and make them get involved, that is sound for me.