Invicta Sport - Monday 22nd July 2024
On tonight's episode Abby Hook takes a look at the Gills latest friendly against Watford, plus we find out about a girls football team raising money for new facilities.
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00:00Good evening and welcome along to Invictus Sport, the only show on your TV dedicated
00:20to wrapping up all of Kent's sporting action. I'm Abbey Hook, here's what to expect on this
00:25Monday 22nd July.
00:28Gilles Friendly. Impressive Gillingham overcome big pre-season test at Priestfield.
00:35Girls' Goals. Increased demand for women's football puts strain on Kent's clubs.
00:41And Lydden's Legacy lives on. Retro rallycross racing underway at the Kent Circuit where
00:45the sport began.
00:47But first, a round-up of the headlines in Gillingham Football Club have announced the
00:51signing of Marcus Wiley for an undisclosed fee. The former Enfield Town Striker scored
00:5734 goals in 49 games in all competitions last season and won the Isthmian Premier Division
01:02Golden Boot. The 25-year-old also provided 15 assists for his old club last season. It'll
01:08be the first time Wiley has played full-time professional football and he could feature
01:12in Mark Bonner's side when the Gilles take on Dartford on Tuesday.
01:17Onto cricket now and Kent Spitfires finished their disappointing T20 Blast campaign with
01:21an emphatic win over top of the southern table Surrey. Kent lost the toss and were put into
01:27bat first by Surrey where Kent posted a huge score of 217 runs to Wanda Myei scoring an
01:34impressive 61 runs from just 31 balls. Kent won by 86 runs.
01:40Vice-captain Jack Leaning spoke to the media after Friday's victory where he reflected
01:44on Kent's T20 season and expectations for the one-day cup.
01:48Yeah I think we said this morning when we came together at training yesterday that actually
01:53look it's not been our comp so far but actually if we can finish with a bit of a high they're
01:57obviously a very good side so it gives us a bit of momentum going into the 50 over comp
02:01which is nice. Like you said it's just a shame it didn't quite happen a little bit earlier
02:04because I think tonight really showcased what we can do when we play as a team and actually
02:08when we all come off together.
02:11With the 2024 Paris Olympic Games set to get underway this Friday, 12 athletes from
02:16Kent will be gearing up to compete for gold medals this summer. The list of athletes includes
02:21runner Kate French from Mepham who will be looking to defend her modern pentathlon title,
02:25here's 23-year-old Sailor Freya Black from Goudhurst, gymnast Georgia Mae Fenton from
02:30Gravesend is on the list, 20-year-old sport climber Eric McNeice from Sittingbourne who
02:35we've previously spoken to here on Invicta Sport and 25-year-old hockey player Ollie
02:39Payne from Holcombe. Exciting stuff for them, we'll be supporting them all the way for sure.
02:43Now with pre-season in full swing, Gillingham FC face another tough challenge against championship
02:49side Watford. It comes after the Gilles drew 0-0 against Millwall. Here's Jack Darkin to
02:54tell us about how the games went down.
02:57Kent's Gillingham FC continued their pre-season campaign by welcoming championship side Watford
03:02to Priestfield. There was plenty of early defending to do for Gillingham. After this
03:08early shot was palmed away by the keeper, eventually being scrambled clear. However,
03:13Elliot Nevitt and trialist Euan Williams combined for the Gilles down the left hand side with
03:18this shot narrowly fizzing wide at the far post. In the 27th minute of the game, this
03:24quick free kick from Max Clarke found its way to the feet of Williams and he slotted
03:28it in to make it 1-0 to the Kent side.
03:36Some more good defending from Gillingham saw this deflected shot missing the post by just
03:40a matter of centimetres. And from that came a corner that bounced around the penalty area
03:46and was cleared off the line.
03:52At the start of the second half, Gillingham forced a fingertip save from Daniel Backman
03:57after Jack Nolan's free kick was kept out. After 68 minutes, the Gilles doubled their
04:02lead through Nolan after he ran at the defence, dropped a shoulder and found the bottom corner
04:07of the net.
04:13Ryan Andrews came close to a stoppish time goal for Watford that Gilles keeper Jake Turner
04:18kept out on the stretch. The final score was 2-0 to Gillingham. This was an impressive
04:24performance from the Gilles and manager Mark Bonner was full of praise for his side's performance.
04:30I'm really pleased with some of the individual performances, especially when you're playing
04:33a team that, I think that was their fourth game, it's our second and we've got a bit
04:38of a mixed match of players still, quite a few young boys getting good minutes, some
04:41out of position and some for the first time. So really good exposure for them, that's what
04:46it's all about, seeing who can step up at the moment in the early part of the season.
04:49So yeah, nice, halfway through pre-season we're in a decent enough spot but a long way
04:53to go yet.
04:54Elsewhere across Kent, other teams were busy this weekend with their pre-seasons. As Ebbs
04:59Fleet won against the West Ham United youth side, Tonbridge Angels beat Fallow Kent side
05:04Margate 2-1 and Maidstone United defeated Woken 1-0. And Dover Athletic were playing
05:11out a five goal thriller, winning three goals to two.
05:14And here are some fixtures to look out for this week. Dartford are hosting League Two
05:18side Gillingham on the 23rd July, with Chatham Town also taking on Maidstone on the 27th.
05:26Well, sticking with football now as we turn to the women's game. In the wake of the Lionesses'
05:32successful 2022 Euro win, the sport has never been more popular. With girls here in Kent
05:38and while the beautiful game is becoming more widely played, some teams have told us they're
05:42struggling to keep up with demand. One based in Sandwich, East Kent FC, are trying to raise
05:47£5,000 to purchase two sets of goals for their training sessions, as the local schools
05:52facilities they currently use won't be available to them for the coming season. Finn McDermott
05:57has been down to meet them.
05:59Crunching tackles, putting your laces through the ball and scoring in the top corner. The
06:03infectious excitement of football is universal. After the Lionesses won the Euros in 2022,
06:091,500 new girls teams were formed the following season. But across the country in certain
06:14teams demand for equipment is struggling to keep up with the increasing interest, even
06:19though the Football Association claims they're trying to make the game more accessible.
06:24Well some say that in football scoring goals is the only thing that matters. And that's
06:27not true. The defensive side of the game is important as well. But the actual physical
06:31goal itself is vital to the game. Without the net, crossbar and two posts, you just
06:37can't play.
06:38For East Kent FC in Sandwich and the Kent Girls and Ladies Football League, they've
06:42had to start looking elsewhere for funding to be able to provide their girls with goals.
06:47Their GoFundMe page is currently just under £1,000, but the target is five times that
06:53to be able to afford the 11-a-side and nine-a-side goals they need.
06:57According to development lead Richard Parker, counsellors, companies and even ordinary people
07:01have just been donating to the club. But it's not yet enough, despite the subscriptions
07:06parents already give.
07:07I'm a big believer that we can't keep going to parents and carers and asking them to put
07:13their hands in their pocket. It's really important that we're able to provide the basic
07:18infrastructure for their girls to be able to play football.
07:21They're already having to fund aspects of the club through monthly subscriptions to
07:26cover our insurances, our accreditations, affiliations, kit, referees, pitch hire. I
07:33simply don't think it's right to ask them.
07:36Here in Kent, it's all the more relevant. With Alessia Russo, the Arsenal and England
07:40forward who played for grassroots team Bairstead FC, being from Kent, made stone originally.
07:46Currently the girls' team plays and trains using the facilities of a local school, but
07:50at the start of the new season they won't have the access they need for the girls to
07:53do their favourite skills.
07:55What's your favourite thing to do in football, if it could be tackling?
07:58School goals.
07:59School goals.
08:00Yeah, school goals.
08:01Being strong.
08:02Tackling people.
08:03Probably attacking and scoring in general.
08:06Yeah, my heart's skidding off.
08:09My beautiful shot power.
08:12Tackling dribble.
08:13And what's your girls' favourite thing to do in football?
08:18Score a goal.
08:21With girls' football growing exponentially, the parents of the players and organisers
08:24of the club are faced with a dilemma of how they're going to be able to fulfil their dreams.
08:29of the players and organisers of the club are faced with the dilemma of how they're
08:33going to reach their funding goals. Finn McDermid for KMTV.
08:36Well let's hope they can find that all important funding. Well now it's time to remind you
08:41you can keep up to date with all the latest sports news, interviews and features from
08:44here on Invicta Sport by heading over to our website kmtv.co.uk and clicking on the Sport
08:49tab. There you'll see videos like this one about how a wheelchair rugby club in Gravesend
08:54is helping people of all abilities feel included in the sport.
08:59I'm here in Gravesend with wheelchair rugby club Gravesend Dynamite. I'm here to take
09:03a look at what wheelchair rugby is all about and give it a go myself. So let's take a look
09:08and see what it's all about. The wheelchair rugby league is very similar
09:11to regular rugby as it replicates a lot of the game making it a rough and tough sport.
09:15The club here in Gravesend was founded by Jason Owen, offers both those that are able
09:19bodied and disabled a chance to play together in a sport and can be in a league and bring
09:23the community here in Gravesend together. 11 years ago we started, I founded the
09:29club because I felt that there needed to be an inclusive sports club in Gravesend. A club
09:35where men and women can play together, children and adults, people with physical disabilities,
09:41people with no disabilities, people with hidden disabilities like epilepsy, ADHD, hearing
09:47impairments. I just felt there needed to be a club where all these people were able to
09:53come together and enjoy rugby. The club has found a lot of success in the
09:57league winning the national challenge trophy 4 times in the last 5 years and is still looking
10:02to build and grow as they have been supported by the governing body of the league, the RFL,
10:06bringing in more chairs and opportunities for the club. As the club now has two teams,
10:10the Gravesend Dynamite team and the Detonators. And with the league being its biggest ever,
10:14expanding with more teams being added into Kent and Essex, the sport continues to grow.
10:20And the players here are embracing the sense of community and enjoying the atmosphere here
10:24at the club. I wanted something for the winter months to keep me busy and I thought I'd have
10:29a go at Wheelchair Rugby League, absolutely loved it. And the club here is fantastic,
10:33they're so inclusive, yeah, no it's a great place. So Gravesend Dynamite is a great club,
10:38it's really friendly, everyone gets along, it's a great experience when you come along
10:42on a Tuesday night and train, it's even better on a game when everyone's together trying
10:47to support the team, yeah. Post lockdown I just wanted to get some social skills back,
10:52you know, you miss everybody and yeah, I thought I'd give it a go. I'm not, wasn't
10:56ever one for sport but I thought I'd give this one a go and yeah, I've just loved it
11:01ever since, I've been here for about a year. I also got in one of the chairs and participated
11:05in training and although I had no prior experience, I was able to pick up the sport with the help
11:09of the Gravesend team.
11:22Now, I may not be playing in any championships anytime soon, but the Gravesend team is open
11:29to all and are waiting for more people to join the club and compete in the league. Tony
11:33Muzanichita, rolling out for KMTV.
11:38Now we've reached half time, which means it's time for a break, but coming up, a retro dirt
11:42rally racing event showcasing the sport that was made here in Kent. We'll have that and
11:46my reaction to being driven around by a champion. All that and more after this very short break.
11:51See you then.
14:51I think we showed you the wrong thing there, but hello and welcome back to Invicta Sport
15:13live here on KMTV. Now, even with the Euros behind us, the summer of sport is far from
15:19over and with the Olympics due to start this week and the return of the football season
15:24is also fast approaching. During these periods of unrelenting sports action, it may be time
15:29to stop and think before placing a bet. Calls to the helpline Gamcare spiked following many
15:35of England's games at Euro 2024 and now the charity is calling on anyone grappling with
15:40gambling to reach out. Well, I'm pleased to say I'm now joined by Matt Burgess. He's a
15:45Chatham man who was formerly addicted to gambling yourself. Thank you very much for
15:49coming in. I know it's something that really close to your heart, of course, going through
15:53it yourself, but also you're partnering up with Gamcare now to try and tackle this. How
15:59important do you think it is to have these conversations openly and sort of get rid of
16:03some of that stigma around it as well? Yeah, I think absolutely. It's one of those things
16:07that many people sometimes don't even realise is an addiction and I think it's really important
16:12for that conversation to happen. I think we have a lot of people that understand drugs
16:18and alcohol and how they can be addicted, but maybe not gambling because it's neurological.
16:21So, it's really important to open up and have that conversation, especially with younger
16:25people as well, to get them educated as early as possible. Tell us a bit about your experience
16:29as well and actually how things turned around for you. Yeah, so I had a gambling addiction
16:34from the age of – I always start a site from about 15, but I guess I was addicted
16:38from about 17, 18, all the way until I was 22 and it just got worse and worse. It led
16:43to the point where I ended up trying to take my own life, unfortunately, and yeah, it just
16:48spiralled so, so quickly and really decimated my life. But after my attempt, I kind of realised
16:54that things had to change, otherwise my life wasn't going to be great. With the help of
16:59friends and family and a network of people around me and some professional help, I was
17:02able to get there. I'm now eight years free of gambling addiction, which is nice and yeah,
17:07just wanting to hopefully spread the word and kind of help other people too. And it
17:11shows how crucial that support network was for you at the time and for some people who
17:14might not have friends and family to support them, Gamcare. Now, tell me exactly how your
17:19partnership with them works, what are you working with them and how can they help people?
17:23If people are watching this now thinking they were and they are in a similar position that
17:27you were once in. Yeah, I mean, you're absolutely right. Some people don't have the support
17:30network that I had and I'm very, very lucky to have that. But yeah, so Gamcare, I worked
17:34for Gamcare as the business development manager, been there for five years. But we run the
17:38National Gambling Helpline, we're part of the National Gambling Support Network as well.
17:42So it's a 24-hour helpline, you can call, you can go on live chat, you can WhatsApp,
17:47there's lots of different ways to get in contact. And that's really the first step and the start.
17:50And it's not an easy first step, of course, but once people can do that, we can offer
17:54them like a menu of options as to what kind of treatment they may want. And then there's
18:00the National Gambling Support Network is part of that as well. So it doesn't matter where
18:03you are in Great Britain, there's a local treatment centre to you as well. But there's
18:07lots of kind of self-help tools you can use as well. There's many, many different things
18:10that people can do. So I would always urge people just to get in touch with that helpline
18:13first, have that first initial conversation, and then we can put a bit of a plan in place
18:18with you to sort of help you on that journey.
18:21Just to start that conversation really and get the ball rolling there. And like you say,
18:25all those different networks, all those different ways of tackling it because everybody's different
18:29and each problem will be different. Just some statistics I've got in front of me here.
18:34One quarter of 16 to 24-year-olds who gambled in the past year reported experiencing mental
18:39health issues, including stress and anxiety. That's much higher than any older age group
18:45as well. 14% of 25 to 34-year-olds, 11% of 35 to 44-year-olds and even smaller for older
18:52age brackets. That's a quarter of a really significant demographic, the demographic that
18:56you were in when you faced your gambling addiction as well. Are you surprised?
19:00I don't know if I'm surprised or not. Having been through it, I know that the mental health
19:06side of it is really, really important. And I think a lot of people, even when I attempted
19:11or I started to open up about gambling, what it had done to me, people sort of said, was
19:15it because you lost loads of money? And whilst there is a financial aspect there, it's not
19:19just that. It's what it does to your whole life. People forget that you become really
19:24isolated when you have an addiction. I was turning down gatherings with friends and family
19:29to sit at home and gamble on my own, which wasn't good for my health. I stopped eating
19:33properly. I stopped drinking properly. I didn't really look after myself. So it's all these
19:36kind of things that kind of bundle together. And once you have that, it's quite a bad concoction
19:40really of a poor mental health state.
19:43And what do you think's to blame for it? When we're looking at things like football, there's
19:46been huge conversations about the advertisement of gambling in football. We're looking to
19:51the Olympics now. What do you think's to blame for this? Is it the culture around sport?
19:56Does that need to change?
19:58I think when you go through recovery, I try not to play the blame game as such. For me,
20:04it's about accepting what I did and the decisions that I made. But you can also have that understanding
20:10that there are outside factors that may affect your decision making as well. A lot of other
20:15people that contact us and work with us, they say that the advertising can be quite difficult
20:21and quite triggering. I found that in my first few years of recovery, certainly. I'm
20:24a big football fan. Going back to the stadium of my team to watch them play was obviously
20:30great, but there was also all this advertising.
20:32Surrounded by it.
20:33Yeah, it makes you feel like it's that kind of constant reminder and that's quite difficult.
20:38So yeah, these things play factors. But for me and my recovery, I have to accept what
20:42I did and I have to accept that the only way I can recover is to kind of move forward with
20:45that and put those safeguards in place.
20:47Matt, it's been amazing to talk to you and definitely reaching out and helping a lot
20:50of people out there. A very important conversation to keep on having. Thank you very much for
20:54speaking to us again.
20:55Thanks for having me. Cheers.
20:56Now, if you'd like to reach out to Gamcare, the number is 0808 8020 133. And if you've
21:02also been affected by any of the discussions we've been having, the Samaritans are on 116
21:07123 at any time of the day.
21:12And finally, this evening, the home birthplace and founding track for Rallycross Lydden Hill,
21:17just between Canterbury and Dover, has been celebrating its rich racing history with a
21:21retro race weekend. The weekend's Lydden Legend Festival has been showcasing a sport created
21:27in our county with a diverse range of rally cars. Six lap races have been run over the
21:32weekend on the tarmac and dirt, and I was lucky enough to be driven round it.
21:40We start this week's action replay with Folkestone Channel Rotary.
22:03The Lydden Legend Festival, the birthplace of Rallycross, celebrating the glory of classic
22:09rally machinery.
22:10It's a sport that started right here in Kent, right here at Lydden Hill Circuit back in
22:161967, making it the oldest Rallycross circuit in the world. And Kent's very own Tristan
22:23Obindon is going to show me what it's like the other side of the safety barriers. And
22:27actually, I'm incredibly lucky because not many people get to ride in that car. I've
22:32got my crash helmet, which we love.
22:35What do you prefer, on the tarmac or on the dirt?
22:39Tough question.
22:42The dirt's really good here now, with the jump. Before they changed the circuit, it
22:49was really fast. It was like tarmac all the way around, really, which is cool, but it's
22:55more fun now.
22:56How was it?
22:57Oh, my goodness. It felt like we were so out of control, but so in control at the same
22:58time. There's nothing like that. That was insane. That felt like 200 miles an hour.
22:59It's like, what are you doing?
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25:13We start this week's action replay with Folkestone Channel Rotary Club's annual cycle challenge,
25:19which overcame high winds and intermittent heavy showers to complete a full 10 years of running.
25:25Setting off at 7am, riders had a choice of 30, 50 or 80 mile routes,
25:31all starting at the Star Inn at St Mary in the Marsh.
25:34With smiles all around at the end, the full effort was to raise money for mental health charity South Kent Mind.
25:41The group now looks towards their annual triathlon in September.
25:46Now, remember this video of a canoeist taking advantage of a flood on his street in Strood?
25:51Well, now let's hop over to Gravesend,
25:54where a similar flood meant young Fraser here was able to practice his fishing skills
25:58by casting his rod out to the depths of the middle of the road.
26:02There may not be any fish out there for him to pick up this time,
26:05but who knows, maybe we're looking at a future champion angler in the making.
26:09And finally, if you've been wondering where our local democracy reporter Gabriel Morris has been this week,
26:14well, wonder no more.
26:16He's had a holiday full of kayaking, horse riding and even quad biking over a volcano.
26:21And yes, making us all very jealous back here in the KMTV office.
26:26That's it for this week's Action Replay.
26:28Don't forget, it could be you here in our next edition.
26:31Just send in your pictures and videos on social media or to sport at kmtv.co.uk.
26:39Well, it looked like a lot of fun Gabriel's been having.
26:41Looking forward to having him back in the newsroom.
26:43But that's full time on today's episode of Invictus Sports.
26:46See you again soon. Bye bye.