CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — At Random Row Brewery this past weekend, the Cville Reds, a local fan club of Liverpool FC, had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch a match with a man who had donned the famous red jersey himself.

Jason McAteer, who played for Liverpool from 1995-99 and represented Ireland in the World Cup in 1994 and 2002, made the trip on behalf of the Liverpool Foundation, the charitable arm of the club.

The organization ran a competition last summer, asking official fan clubs to write about what they did to help their local community. The grand prize was the opportunity to watch a match with McAteer, which the Cville Reds did on Sunday.

“One of the things that we are focused on, as being an official supported club of Liverpool, is we want to do things for the local community,” Cville Reds co-founder Karen Massey told Cville Right Now. “And so, we’ve gotten in the habit of, we’ll do food drives for Loaves & Fishes or Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. We’ve sponsored some of the SOCA kids’ teams, and we’ve kind of settled into Loaves & Fishes being our aim for everything that we do.”

Last season, the fan club donated $6,000 to Loaves & Fishes, a local food bank in Albemarle County. And even in the midst of Sunday’s event, the club still found a way to support the food bank. At halftime of the day’s game, the fan club raffled off a Liverpool jersey signed by all of the first-team players, with all proceeds going to Loaves & Fishes.

Massey said Loaves & Fishes has become the club’s “focus,” and as such, the club’s submission into the competition focused on their work with the food bank. Even against fan clubs from all over the world, it was enough to win the whole thing.

“[The Liverpool Foundation] recognize that what we’re doing here is pretty special,” she said, “and the grand prize of that competition was Jason.”

The event brought in a full house of Liverpool fans, including members of the Richmond fan club. During a moderated discussion before the match, fans got to hear directly from McAteer about his playing career and the iconic memories that came with it.

But toward the end, he also talked about his post-playing career. McAteer has been open in recent years about how his mental health declined following his retirement, and he told the crowd at Random Row that working with Liverpool during the beginning of the Liverpool foundation helped him in his recovery.

“They realized that their platform globally was growing,” he said, “and they had an obligation really to help people and use their platform and what they have to help people. And then the foundation was born, which is amazing.”

With the foundation, McAteer has had the opportunity to travel around the world, talking with fans and sharing stories not just off his time on the pitch, but his time off of it, calling himself an advocate for mental health, particularly in men. McAteer said he is still proud to be a Liverpool fan and be attached the club, and that he loves the opportunity to meet people around the world.

“From a mental health point of view, you help me out,” he told the crowd.