From the Care System to Captaining Saracens: Floyd Steadman OBE's Message of Hope at the First Tackle London Matt Ratana Awards

When Floyd Steadman OBE addressed the room at the inaugural TackleLondon Matt Ratana Awards, he brought with him a story of extraordinary resilience - one that speaks directly to the young people TackleLondon and the Matt Ratana Rugby Foundation work with every day.

Steadman became the first Black captain of Saracens at just 23 years old, an achievement that would come to define a distinguished career both on and off the pitch. Since retiring from rugby, he has received numerous national honours, including his OBE. But as he told the audience, the path to those achievements began somewhere far harder.

A Difficult Beginning

Steadman is a child of the Windrush generation. His parents arrived in the UK in the summer of 1956, part of a wave of arrivals from the Caribbean, South Asia, and East and West Africa who answered the call to help rebuild Britain after the Second World War.

That generation faced significant challenges - not least the racism that came with the colour of their skin. For Steadman's family, there was an additional burden: his father was abusive, both to his wife and, later, to his children. At just 10 years old, Steadman ran away from home and stayed away for nearly three weeks. When he returned, his father would not let him back in - and Steadman was taken into care.

He spent the majority of his formative years in Brent children's homes. It was there that he first encountered what he described as the cruelty of unconscious bias and racism — being told repeatedly that he belonged on the margins of society, and that his future held nothing more than borstal or prison.

Finding Role Models, Finding Purpose

Without a father figure to look up to, Steadman found inspiration elsewhere; he turned to men like Muhammad Ali, Pelé, Dr Martin Luther King, and his lifelong hero, Nelson Mandela, for the guidance and example he needed.

Through hard work at school and a natural talent for rugby, he began to build a different future for himself - one that would eventually see him captain one of English rugby's most storied clubs, and go on to receive some of the country's highest honours.

But as Steadman made clear to the room, the awards themselves are not what matter most to him. What matters is the difference he has been able to make in the lives of young people ever since.

A Message for the Next Generation

Steadman left the young people of Tackle London with advice drawn directly from his own life:

• Believe in yourself, follow your dreams, and aim high.
• Use your mistakes as part of the learning process, everyone makes them.
• Act with kindness and compassion, always.

It's a message that sits at the very heart of what Tackle London and the Matt Ratana Rugby Foundation exist to do: to show young people, whatever their circumstances, that their story is not yet written.

The Floyd Steadman Cup

In a fitting close to the evening, Steadman announced that he would be donating the Floyd Steadman Cup to the foundation, a lasting tribute that will carry his story, and his message of hope, forward for years to come.

The Matt Ratana Rugby Foundation and Tackle London are proud to have welcomed Floyd Steadman OBE to our first ever Awards evening, and grateful for his generosity in sharing his journey, and now, his cup, with our community.