TNT Sports will premiere The Club That George Built (22:30 on 1st October on TNT Sports 1 and discovery+), a new film that follows George Dowell, who made the bold decision to purchase Worthing FC in 2015 after a devastating car accident, charting his determination to transform his childhood club Worthing FC into a National League team after saving it from financial ruin.
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00:00Hello, so I'm Sam Morton, reporter for Sussex World, and I'm delighted to be joined today
00:04by George Dow, the owner of Worthing Football Club. TNT Sports will premiere The Club that
00:09George Built, a new film that follows George Dow, who made the bold decision to purchase
00:13Worthing FC in 2015 after a devastating car accident, charting his determination to transform
00:19his chartered club, Worthing FC, into a national league team after saving it from financial
00:23ruin. The Club that George Built premieres on TNT Sports 1 at 10.30pm on the 1st of October
00:29and will be available to watch on demand by Discovery+. So George, it's brilliant for
00:34you to be here with us, and how proud are you that your story will be shared on such
00:37a huge scale? Yeah, really proud. It's all a bit surreal the last few days, and it's
00:43been an incredible journey. Last year was a brilliant year for them to do a documentary,
00:49so I'm hoping that everyone enjoys it when it does come out on Tuesday. Yeah, it's fantastic.
00:53And what work has gone on behind the scenes in this documentary, and how much fun have
00:56you had with filming? Yeah, I mean, there's always stuff going on down the club, so I
01:02feel like you could film a pretty good documentary down there most weeks, to be fair. But yeah,
01:08last year was especially good. We had so much going on for me personally and at the club,
01:13and obviously we had a manager leaving with 10 games to go, and our captain getting injured
01:18and retiring and then coming back. So yeah, there's just so much that happened last year.
01:22Yeah, lots of content. I'm sure they had some headaches trying to work out a plan of how
01:27they're going to fit it all in. Yeah, yeah, it's fantastic. What can you tell us about
01:31the documentary? What's involved? What should people keep an eye out for? Essentially, it's
01:38a documentary, I guess, about my life and the club, and how, I guess, my journey started from
01:48being a football player myself, and then having my injury, and having a spinal cord injury,
01:52and then, yeah, perching the club, and then how we are where we are today. So yeah, it's a really
01:59good story. It's emotional at times, hard for me to watch personally. Yeah, I'm sure. But I think
02:04it's a really good documentary. They do a great job of capturing the whole story, whether you know
02:10the club, or you know me, or you don't. I feel like they do a really good job of telling the
02:15whole story. So it's a really, really good watch. Yeah, that's fantastic. Also, you mentioned a bit
02:19before about your backstory. I mean, when you first had that car accident, I can't imagine
02:24you'd ever dreamed that in, obviously, 14 years time, you'd be where you are at now, obviously,
02:28with this documentary coming out. No, yeah, it's crazy to look back. So much has happened in that
02:35space of time. And yeah, when I was newly injured, I didn't really hold out much hope, to be honest.
02:40So yeah, to now look back and think of all the things that have been achieved in that time
02:45is incredible. And that's, I guess, one brilliant thing, again, about the documentary, is that it
02:50does force you to look back and see how things were, and then maybe how they are today,
02:55and how much it means. And there's lots to be proud of, I guess. Yeah. Can you take us
03:02back to the beginning, really? How did the story begin? And how has it got to this point?
03:08Yeah, so what, you mean the documentary? Yeah, I mean, obviously, your story itself,
03:13obviously, when you first had that accident, and just to literally sum up your journey, really,
03:18and kind of how inspirational it is, really. Yeah, so as a youngster, I always played football,
03:24absolutely loved football. And then when I got to about 15, I went to trial for Worthing Football
03:30Club to get into their under-18s. And I got in, which I was very chuffed about, to be able to
03:37represent my town, which was amazing. And then, yeah, when I was 17, I was getting in and around
03:41the first team, and then had a spinal cord injury, unfortunately. And that put an end
03:47to my playing days. I then spent, sort of, yeah, 10 months in Salisbury Spinal Unit,
03:53doing my rehabilitation, and then come home. And I really struggled when I came home to,
03:58I guess, reintegrate into the community. I wasn't maybe as comfortable in my skin as I might have
04:05liked to be. And I always found it really hard to come to terms with the fact that I was an active
04:10teenager, playing football every day, and now, yeah, not being able to walk or really do very
04:15much. And I didn't really know what to do with my life. So I kind of got in a rut of just seeing
04:21the same people, going to the same places, to try and avoid, I guess, turning up somewhere new,
04:27and it being really awkward to get in, or it's not accessible, and then there's a big faff. And
04:30I really didn't like the idea of any of that. So I was, yeah, stuck in a rut for a good couple
04:34years after coming home from hospital, and then, I guess, made a conscious decision that I didn't
04:41want to live the rest of my life like that, and I wanted to try and do something. And the one thing
04:46that I was still passionate about was football, so I wanted to try and get back involved in football.
04:51So I tried a few things, and then the club came up in the local paper saying that they're struggling
04:58financially, and that if they didn't have a resolution in the next few months, that there'd
05:02no longer be a Worthing Football Club, which I didn't want to see happen. And also, at that time,
05:07I was looking for a purpose in my life, and almost, yeah, trying to carve a career out for myself
05:14somewhere in football. So I just thought, wow, I didn't want to let that opportunity pass up,
05:19and I felt like I could help the club in that respect. And I had a few ideas about
05:25how to make it successful again, and yeah, it seems to be going okay at the moment.
05:30Yeah, I mean, how much are you looking forward to this documentary then, and seeing your story
05:36on TV? And I suppose you must have lots of friends and family that will be contacting you after
05:41seeing you on TV. It must be probably quite a surreal experience. Yeah, that is the word, really.
05:46Very, very surreal. Obviously, my friends and my family have been massively supportive since
05:51the day of my injury, really. I was very lucky, and I very rarely went a day at Salisbury, which is
05:56about an hour and a half away from where I live. I very rarely went a day without a visitor up
06:02there, whether it was friends or family. And my mum quit her job and was living in a B&B right
06:06next to the hospital, and my dad was there two or three times a week. So I was very lucky in that
06:12respect to have my family there, and hopefully this documentary is a bit of a celebration for
06:17them as well. They can see the journey. They've been a part of it all the way through, and they've
06:21supported me all the way through. So, yeah, it's a celebration for me and more importantly for the
06:26club as well. It hopefully shines a really good light on Worthing as a town and us as a football
06:32club. So, yeah. Yeah, that's fantastic. Do you have any kind of words of inspiration or hope
06:36to others that may find themselves in a similar position to how you did in all those years ago
06:41after the accident and kind of how people can really turn the knife around for the better?
06:45Yeah, just that life's not always easy, and if you do have a big setback, it doesn't necessarily
06:51mean that your life is over. It's just changed, and maybe you have to find a different way of
06:56doing the things that you love to do. But if you're passionate about something,
07:00there's always a way to stay involved in it. Not always easy at the start, but, yeah,
07:07there's still plenty you can go out and achieve post the injury, and, yeah, I hope that that's
07:12the message that people take from the documentary, really. Yeah, that's fantastic. I mean, how proud
07:17are you of how far the club has come? We've obviously mentioned it in the National League now, and
07:21yeah, obviously brilliant to see how far they've come, really. How proud are you as the owner?
07:26Yeah, really proud, and yeah, I know the documentary's called The Club that George
07:30Built, but I'm very, very aware that it's taken a team of some really, really good
07:34and dedicated people to make this happen, and, yeah, I'm really, really thankful to the whole
07:41team at Worthing Football Club for making it as successful as it has been in recent years,
07:45because, yeah, it does take a team, and there's a lot that goes on to make it happen,
07:48and I'm thankful to all of them, and I want to make sure that none of them get forgotten.
07:52Now, I can't name check everyone because they'll be here all day, but, yeah, it's amazing work that
07:57goes on down there, and I'm extremely proud of the club and how far we've come in sort of nine
08:01or ten years. Brilliant. Thank you so much for that, George. It was a pleasure to speak to you,
08:05and just a reminder that The Club that George Built premieres from T&T Sports 1 at 10.30pm
08:10on the 1st of October, and will be available to watch online via Discovery+.