Transplant recipients are taking to the football pitch to promote organ donation.
Scotland’s transplant football team is preparing to take on the three other home nations in a showpiece tournament this month.
The team trains in Hamilton and Motherwell under the expert management of Johnny Fallon, former Motherwell player and ex-boss of Bellshill Athletic. Many of the squad of over 20 transplant patients are from Lanarkshire, with players from Bellshill, Cambuslang, Lanark, Motherwell, Wishaw and Viewpark.
Others come from Glasgow, Edinburgh, Ross-shire and even all the way from Suffolk. There is one female player – more women are being encouraged to join – and all of the squad get a turn in the games, which are seven-a-side
Defender Michael McGregor, who had a kidney transplant in 2022, says the football isn’t the most important thing about the tournaments they play.
Michael (54), from Bellshill, said: “It’s about highlighting the importance of organ donation and ensuring as many Scots as possible are signed up to give this potentially life-saving gift to someone.
“Due to a genetic kidney condition, I was on dialysis for two years and received great care at University Hospital Monklands in Airdrie before my transplant. The operation gave me a new lease on life – the difference in how well I felt after it was like flicking a light switch.”
Dad-of-three Michael explained his wife Liz was so keen to see him receive a new kidney that she volunteered to donate one of hers.
“She wasn’t a match for me,” he said. “So she went into a cross-matching system so she could donate to another person and I’d get a transplant from someone else. It was a really generous choice on her part.”
In the end, Liz’s kidney wasn’t needed as council employee Michael received a transplant through the waiting list, at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
As he built up his fitness after the op, he took up bowls, leading him to meet people involved with the transplant football team. Set up just two years ago, it’s made up of players who’ve received new hearts, livers or kidneys.
Michael, who plays at right-back, admits he’s never scored a goal in a competitive match but he’s more focused on the need to increase organ donation across Scotland.
That’s why the Scotland team are taking on England, Wales and Northern Ireland in the Four Nations Transplant Football Championship at Ross County’s ground in Dingwall on 29 and 30 May.
The tournament is a warm-up for the Transplant Football World Cup, which takes place in Germany in September. Around 15 nations are expected to take part alongside Scotland, including Spain, Italy, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the current holders, Chile.
In Scotland, people aged 12 and over can choose to be an organ and tissue donor. From the age of 16 you can opt in or out on the Organ Donor Register. If you do nothing, it’s assumed you agree to be a donor if donation is possible after you pass away
It’s important to tell your loved ones about your donation decision so they can honour your wishes.
You can register your donation decision and find out more at www.organdonation.scot or call 0300 123 2323. You can choose to donate some or all of these organs:
- Heart (including heart valves)
- Lungs
- Liver
- Kidneys
- Pancreas
- Small bowel
You can also choose to donate your tissue.
- Heart valves
- Tendons
- Eyes – corneas
