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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Paul MacInnes

Roman Kemp: ‘Compassion and connection at the heart of football can help prevent suicide’

Roman Kemp
Roman Kemp says the Together Against Suicide campaign is ‘something I really believe will make a difference to the fans that need it’. Photograph: Ashley Coombes/Shutterstock for Edinburgh TV Festival

“I go to football every week, all my life. Home, away, England away, all of it,” says Roman Kemp. “And there is something about it that is transcendent. It almost feels like religion to me. Like if you go on holiday and you go into a church, even if it’s empty, you can feel the energy it’s got in there. A football stadium is the same.”

Kemp, the kind of Gooner who performs his own statistical analysis of Arsenal’s season (“I look at the league and I do a side-by-side comparison of points gained, points lost”), brings to his passion for football the same all-encompassing enthusiasm that has made him a star of TV, radio and podcasting. And he believes that the game, and its unique place in society, can play an important role in addressing another subject close to his heart: suicide.

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