A Liverpool man received an award for his services to football alongside names such as Patrick Vieira and Vincent Kompany.
Aubrey Rogers received the prestigious Football Black List award for coaching and management at this year's event held at Battersea Arts Centre in London. The award recognised his contribution as coach, beginning at Tiber FC in Toxteth 27 years ago.
Having an interest in football from the age of seven Aubrey loved the challenge and the excitement of playing football.
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Aubrey, 53 from Toxteth told the ECHO: "A big thank you to all the people that helped me along the way on my coaching journey. Too many to mention, I’d not have gotten here without them.
“Especially my family and more so my wife, always supporting and encouraging me with my passion for football when I’ve spent a lot of time out of the house coaching. I’d like to dedicate the award to them”.
The Black List was founded in 2008 by broadcaster turned filmmaker Leon Mann MBE and sports editor of the Voice newspaper Rodney Hinds. Household names and respected people from the industry including; Rio Ferdinand OBE, Dame Heather Rabbatts CBE, Yaya Toure, Hope Powell CBE, Lord Ouseley, Marcus Rashford MBE, Eniola Aluko, Raheem Sterling MBE and Rachel Yankey OBE have all featured on the list.
The Football Black List shines a light on those who are inspiring the next generation and Aubrey is keen to do just that.
He added: “I was lucky enough to play semi-professionally for a short stint. I started to look for different ways to stay involved once my career came to an end.
“I founded a community football club with Earl Jenkins and Ricky Jones. It’s from this point I started to get a taste for coaching and management. This led me down the route of pursuing my coaching badges."
The Black Footballers partnership states 43% of professional players in the Premier League are Black. In the EFL 34% are from Black communities. Despite this level of representation on the pitch in the men’s game there is a worrying lack of representation in decision making positions across all areas of the game.
In the women’s game representation on the pitch is significantly lower but the issues of under-representation off the pitch are similar. To help address this and pay tribute to those in influential positions and individuals making a difference within the community at grassroots level of the game.
Since 2022 Aubrey has been a full time junior coach at Liverpool FC, he said: "I've been coaching for seven years at Liverpool Football Academy. It's an honour and privilege to work for my childhood club. Coaches and staff who work for the Academy, we have the saying 'We're Living The Dream'.
"It's always great to see the players I've coached doing well in football or outside the game. I've been lucky enough to travel the world coaching, making friends and memories, winning trophies and prizes along the way”.
Community worker Paul Sesay nominated Aubrey for the award, he said: "Aubrey shone a light on football all his life and dedicated it. The impact he’s had not just across Liverpool but all over is insurmountable and he deserves an award for it.
"I heard about the award for Black people in the grassroot community and it was inevitable I nominated him."
For information visit the Black List HERE
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