In the Spotlight...

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."

​

​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."

​

Alex McIntyre, West Midlands and Lee Blakeman, BBC Radio Stoke

​

Get in touch below:

​

Port Vale FC Foundation | Port Vale FC

​