When Vinnie Jones was a Hollywood rookie, cutting his teeth in 2000’s Gone in 60 Seconds, he took a football onto the set. “Scott Caan and a couple of the lads liked their football,” he recalls. “At lunchtime we would have a kickabout, Nicolas Cage would join us and Robert Duvall would do a bit of refereeing.” A few years later, he was making a film in Hawaii with Morgan Freeman (comedy heist The Big Bounce). “Morgan used to text me and say: ‘What time are you guys playing soccer tonight?’ He used to come with a cigar and a drink and watch us. It brought us all together.”
It’s an excellent bit of name-dropping that serves to make a larger point: that football is a great unifier. The former midfielder is in a philosophical mood as we discuss his latest project, a starring role in Pepsi’s advert launching its “Where There’s a Ball, There’s a Way” campaign. The initiative sets out to show that football doesn’t always have to be 22 players and a pitch, and that in cities where there are fewer spaces to play than ever, there is always a way to enjoy the game.
Much like the unforgettable ads produced by the brand in the early Noughties, this one features an assembled cast of sporting greats. Man City boy wonder Jack Grealish, Lioness captain Leah Williamson, Tottenham Hotspur and South Korea captain Son Heung-min and Brazilian superstar Vini Jr stage perhaps the most impressive game of street football in history. Jones makes a cameo as the action climaxes outside Wembley Stadium, reminding Jr: “There’s only one Vinnie J.”
It may have been 25 years since Jones retired as a player, but cut him open and he still bleeds football. Recently, he says, he cancelled a flight back to the US — where he spends much of his time — so that he could watch his home team, Watford FC, play.
Among his earliest memories are choosing boots out of his school’s lost-property box and scoring his first hat-trick. Soon after, when he began playing for an under-12s team, Sunday matches took place on a horse field belonging to a friend of his father. “We’d go out there with buckets and shovels and get all the manure off the pitch, line it out, put the nets up.” Football would eventually bring him fame (and infamy), but it was always, fundamentally, about his love for kicking a ball. As long as he had that, everything else could be improvised.
It chimes with the message of Pepsi’s new campaign, “Where There’s a Ball, There’s a Way”, which celebrates the beautiful game as a sport for anyone and everyone, no matter the circumstance.
Sometimes football takes you places, like captaining Wales or winning the FA Cup, as it did for Jones. But it's not always about an end goal. “It’s a passion that you have inside of you, whether it’s playing or supporting, whether you want to be a manager or a referee,” Jones says. The camaraderie, the simple thrill of playing with friends, can be therapy. “Football is an escape for a lot of people. It puts a smile on your face and can be a distraction from the difficult moments in your life. Even for kids, picking up a football can take them through the wardrobe and open their eyes to a new life.”
It’s pretty telling, this way of looking at things. At 59, Jones has mellowed out — he’s most likely to be found doing up his West Sussex farm or spending time with his grandchildren, and no longer has the temper that earned him the nickname “The Axe” on the pitch.
“In my day, you’d never mention mental health,” he says. “People were unfair and they’d look at you differently but if I had discussed mental health earlier and made some different decisions, maybe my life wouldn’t have been so chaotic. Maybe I’ve matured a bit. Maybe I’ve learned some life lessons.”
Pepsi has brought together some of the world’s greatest footballers for a new global campaign, “Where There’s a Ball, There’s a Way”, which sees the brand unlock unexpected ways to play both on and off the pitch. Thirsty for more? Visit Pepsi
