Oxford hosts football tournament for homeless people

The tournament is aimed at helping homeless people deal with their own personal problems

Oxford has hosted what is thought to be Britain's first football tournament for the homeless and people with mental health problems.

Thirty-two teams from across England and Wales took part in the Social Inclusion Cup on Monday.

Among them were past and present residents of Lucy Faithfull House - a hostel based in Oxford city centre.

Tournament organiser Jon Regler said "football helps people tackle other problems in life".

The project worker told BBC News: "It teaches them a lot of social and teams skills.

"Football [also] gives them a focus and a purpose sometimes to actually get up in the morning."

Lucy Faithfull House team member John McMillan has been living at the hostel for six months.

He said: "[Football] gives you confidence, it gives you something to do, [and] keeps you physically fit.

"If I were not playing football, I would probably be sitting at home getting drunk, to be honest.

"Hopefully, if I can stick at this properly I can go into a bit of coaching and [then] go on from there."