QPR midfielder Shaun Derry has told KSN how he wants professional footballers to get back to their roots and give back to the community.

The 34 year old former Crystal Palace and Leeds United midfielder is now plying his trade with Premier League side Queens Park Rangers, however the Nottingham born tough tackler has featured just twice for Mark Hughes’ side this season.

This week, Derry gave up his time to come to Maidstone United to be the guest of honour at the Kent FA Football Workforce awards that honoured just a handful of the 15,000 people who volunteer their time to the game of football in the county.

Derry gave out the awards to the lucky winners and told KSN how he was keen to be involved more in grass roots football and that it was a humbling experience seeing so many people give up their time for nothing:

“It’s very humbling to see what happens at grass roots, to understand the amount of hours people put in doing voluntary work for the community.”

“Playing football, you get cocooned into your own little world and you watch Sky Sports every day. You get to see the Premier League, Championship and the Champions League, but you don’t get to see where it all starts and it starts here.”

“There are big debates at the moment about grass roots football. For me, people giving up their time and giving opportunities for youngsters to spend their free time doing something that they love is keeping them out of trouble and keeping them fit.

“All the relationships that are forged through sport and through football is down to these guys.”

With time pressures on many families nowadays, Derry told KSN how he wanted to see more parents taking their kids to play sport when they can, just like his parents did with him:

“You need people around you and you need opportunities. Thankfully, my parents gave me a fantastic grounding and took me to places I need to be and I started playing football at a very early age.”

“I’ve enjoyed absolutely every day of my football life and when I do stop playing I will carry on being involved in the football family because it’s a fantastic place in which to be involved.”

“I love football and what it brings to people’s lives. The coaches and people behind the scenes make things happen and that’s important they are recognised for doing so.”

Players are often criticised for getting into football for the trappings that come with the lifestyle such as fast cars and big houses.

Quite a lot of young players have short lived careers that fall by the wayside all too often and Derry told KSN how it was important that youngsters coming into the game remain grounded and give something back to the local community:

“I’ve had this conversation many times before and I feel that there should be something in your contracts that stipulates you must give something back to your community, especially the younger players.”

“I take my club, QPR, and with the greatest respect, most of the 18-21 year olds there are going to struggle to get into the first team unless they have an exceptional amount of ability.”

“Now, what do you do, do you come off the training field and go home and play on your computer games, go out with your mates and watch your life go by or do you give something back?”

“I think lads should be made to give something back as they would appreciate more what they have got then. It would be great for a lot more professionals to really get involved with the guys that makes things happen, for people that aren’t going to get to the level that they are at.”

“To give something back to your community is so important.”