The Prince of Wales has kicked off a partnership with a Scottish football charity and hinted that an Aston Villa favourite could join him for the next visit.
William joined a practice session run by Street Soccer Scotland, being backed by his Royal Foundation, which will fund a range of initiatives at the charity’s branch in Leith, near Edinburgh.
The financial support from the foundation’s Community Impact Project will also help the charity create Leith United – a collaboration with Leith Community Centre and YMCA Edinburgh.
The prince met YMCA user Shaniah Gilgun, aged 10, and learnt about her efforts with other youngsters to improve housing conditions in the area, but the conversation turned to football when he spotted a poster of Aston Villa.
Villa fan William mentioned the club’s captain, who also leads the Scottish national side, telling Shaniah: “Maybe I should bring John McGinn… might have to wait till he retires – we’ll put it in the pipeline.”
He added: “He promised me he would come up and show me around.”
After asking a group of children about their football teams during his visit to the community centre, he said of son Prince Louis: “My youngest supports five different teams now.”
Shaniah later mentioned William’s praise for her housing campaign: “He said it was a really good thing and that we should keep doing it and only good will come out of it.
“When he mentioned John McGinn, I said, ‘That’s a deal’.”
Street Soccer Scotland was founded by David Duke in Leith in 2009 before he opened centres across Scotland to deliver free football-themed training and personal development programmes to support people experiencing issues like poor mental health, addiction, homelessness and isolation.
The charity will use the Royal Foundation grant to renovate Leith Community Centre, enhance sports-based initiatives at the site, enable outreach work in the community and fund an impact manager over three years to co-ordinate grassroots leaders and local partnerships.
During the visit William saw a range of groups who use the centre, from flamenco and kung fu classes to a group of amateur paintings who impressed the prince.
Mr Duke, who is an official supporter of William’s Homewards homeless initiative, said after the visit: “So obviously to have the support of the Royal Foundation is fantastic.
“Their vision is to try and create community impact and they’re looking at places and spaces where they can create that.”
He added: “It’s about the long-term support from the wider Royal Foundation team, they can help us create almost a blueprint for change and they’ve already started working with us on a kind of theory of change, in terms of how we can use this space and the partnerships to make a difference.”
