Forres Mechanics assistant manager Mark Holmes’ football academy has given lifeline to communities in Ghana, Kenya and Zambia as well as thriving youngsters across the Highlands

A football school set up by Forres Mechanics’ assistant manager is not only producing Highland talent but making a real difference to young lives in Africa.

Former Caley Thistle, Ross County and Falkirk winger Mark Holmes established his own football academy in the north of Scotland after retiring from the playing side of his sport.

Contact from a football coach in Africa saw Holmes spread his wings and take his project further afield.

Now the academy offers football to youngsters in Ghana, Zambia and Kenya, and not only provides sporting opportunities but education, accommodation and vital amenities to impoverished children.

The academy now has well over 1000 boys and girls under their wing, aged between 3 and 14 in Scotland and 4 and 18 in Africa.

Holmes recently took on the post of assistant manager at the Forres club who he played for in two spells during his 20s, returning there to work with former Cans’ team-mate and current boss Steven MacDonald.

As well as running his academy across three continents, the 49-year-old also works as a football agent who has furthered the careers of highly-rated players to top-tier teams in the UK and USA.

But it is his work in transforming lives in West Africa which have given him his greatest reward.

Most of the African children in his academy will not make it as a professional footballer but will gain a standard of education which normal life in their home country could not provide.

One youngster living in the most basic of conditions in Ghana made the 100-mile journey by foot or hitching lifts just to be part of the academy’s activities.

Another landed a contract with a second division club in Albania.

The programme has gained donations from the north of Scotland, geared towards giving African children a future.

“Zambia and Kenya started just last year so they are relatively new but the one in Ghana has been running since 2017,” Holmes revealed.

“I’ve got a football complex over there as well as a scouting system. We hold tournaments and go to other tournaments and the scouts pick the best players, they come on trial and if they are good enough they will come to the complex and stay there.

“It is a regime over there. We employ cooks, and the kids wake up at 5 in the morning, train from 6 until 8, and the cooks give them their breakfast - then they are off to school.

“They come back, do their homework and after that they are back out in the field from 5 until 7 when they are fed again.

“All of the kids have a bucket each and they all do their own washing and then they hang it up, hang it out together then go to sleep.

“Then it’s a case of repeat the next day.”

Holmes had started his academy in Scotland when he was contacted by African coach Solomon Owusu through social media.

The seeds were planted for a sports and education programme which has since given hundreds of African youngsters a huge level of support, both to them and their families.

And money raised from the Highland branches of Holmes’ academy is helping to feed children in the three Africa nations his project involves.

The Inverness man even enlisted help from his former school in the Highland capital in his quest to give children a better chance in life.

“We had one young boy, Albert, who came from a mud hut over 100 miles away and he came on bare foot with his uncle to come to the academy, walking for miles and hitching lifts and he managed to get to the academy.

“He is an orphan and his uncle couldn’t afford to feed him, so we took him into the academy. I managed to get a computer from Milburn Academy in Inverness and took it over. I met with a private school over there and managed to get Albert into that school.

“That made a big difference to him. He was academically good which you had to be to get into this primary school. I did a deal with the headmaster to give him the computer and I said I would give him all of the best athletes at my academy if they can get the best education at the school and they don’t have to pay.”

Holmes also used his strong networks in football to give another young African a dream opportunity to play professionally in Europe.

His friendship with former Celtic player and Albanian international Rudi Vata helped forge the deal.

“We’ve just got another boy called Latif (Yakubu) who has been at my academy for the last three years. Again he came from a mud hut and he stayed at my complex for three years and the coaches trained him and we’ve just managed to get him over to Albania.

“He is playing in the second division over there at the moment, and all that was through Rudi .

“I put the boy to Dinamo City who play in the top division and they wanted to keep him but we couldn’t agree terms. Because I know Rudi, I got in touch with him and he took him to this second division team and they signed him straight away.”

The projects in Africa have branches out into the communities they serve, and Holmes explained how they have been able to support not just the young footballers but families in the towns and villages.

“We’ve been supplying things like sanitary towels for the women and young girls, and helping the elderly. Projects like that are ongoing along with the day-to-day running of the academy and stuff.”

The academy has been subject to a documentary charting its activities and the lifeline it is providing for African families.

More recently, the academy branches out to Canada when one of the African coaches moved to Toronto and agreed to head up a north American section of the project.

“We’ve got a committee, there’s quite a big regime over there and it is well-run. I know I have people who I can trust and no matter what is needed whether its football boots, strips or donations, I know everything is handed out and I know where the money is going.

“They put up photos of what has been bought so if anyone wants to donate then they can see what they have managed to help buy.

“People in and around the Highlands and beyond, they have been very supportive of the academy.”