Home>News>Cardiff Met grad Duke Al highlights how poetry has been therapy ahead of latest collab with the Football Association of Wales

Cardiff Met grad Duke Al highlights how poetry has been therapy ahead of latest collab with the Football Association of Wales

News | 25 October 2024

This week, the Football Association of Wales (FAW) announced that it has teamed up with Cardiff Metropolitan University graduate and spoken word poet, Duke Al, to highlight the importance of male allyship ahead of Cymru’s first UEFA Women’s EURO play-off against Slovakia.



Duke Al, 30, originally from Dinas Powys in the Vale of Glamorgan, graduated from Cardiff Met in 2018 after studying a BSc (Hons) Sport Coaching degree, and went on to do the MA in Creative Writing which he graduated from in 2022. His career has since gone from strength to strength, working with the likes of Team Wales, the Welsh Sports Association and BBC Sports – to name a few. Duke Al’s ability to motivate, inspire and resonate with a wide range of audiences through the power of his spoken word poetry is moving.

But behind the poetry that is now inspiring mass audiences, Duke Al has his own story to share. We caught up with him, as he explains how he first discovered a love for writing at the age of 11 and by the age of 12 it had become a form of self-therapy to try and escape the intrusive thoughts he was experiencing due to an undiagnosed battle with the mental health condition, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

“My brain told my hand, my hand told the pen, and my pen told the page,” Duke Al said when describing how he would write about the scary thoughts he was experiencing from a young age.

“Writing became a positive coping mechanism. But I kept my writing very much to myself at this point and initially didn’t tell anyone the thoughts I was experiencing, worried they would judge me.”.

Despite realising he had OCD after googling his symptoms at the age of 12, Duke Al wasn’t properly diagnosed until he was 21 – resulting in years of self-destruction and using alcohol to escape.

It was following his diagnosis with OCD at the age of 21 that Duke Al went on to study at Cardiff Met as a mature student. But he admits his journey to Higher Education was not plain sailing.

“I failed sixth form twice as I didn’t want to be there, I felt lost in what I wanted to do,” he explained. “I had always loved sport though, and my career was naturally heading in this direction. Prior to coming to university, I had been studying sport coaching at college and had qualified as a personal trainer. I was also working as a landscape gardener. But deep down, I was very unsure what I wanted to do in life.”



It was during Duke Al’s final year on his undergraduate degree at Cardiff Met that he was successful in securing a place on a volunteering trip to Zambia. He credits meeting one of the leaders on the trip for helping him realise he would like to go on to do a master’s degree.

He said: “I asked one of the leaders who was on the Zambia trip how he decided a masters was right for him and he told me: What do I love to do and what makes me get out of bed in the morning? For me, the answer was writing. “It took me a long time to find my true calling in life. But after that trip to Zambia, I came home, quit my job as a personal trainer and set up my Instagram page as a platform to share my poetry and songs, and everything has just taken off from there. It was just my time.”

Duke Al, who now lives in Sully, later went on to enroll on the Master’s in Creative Writing at Cardiff Met to help him develop his writing skills and build contacts – he credits the course for improving his confidence.

Duke Al promotes his poems through Instagram and explained how his work is now taking him across the UK, with lots of exciting projects in the pipeline. He also regularly works with charities close to his heart delivering poetry workshops to all ages. These include Diabetes UK, having also been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes aged 23, and OCD Action.

“I truly believe there’s beauty at the end of suffering,” he added. “And if I didn’t go through all of the things I have, I wouldn’t be able to relate to the people I now help through my poetry.”

Speaking about the collaboration with the FAW, Duke Al added: “It has always been my ambition to work with the Football Association of Wales, so I feel privileged to have been given the opportunity to collaborate with them and music producer MAK over the last few months to produce this poem.

“The poem aims to celebrate the key moments throughout the qualifying campaign and the team’s achievement of reaching the UEFA Women’s EURO play-offs for the first time, and also celebrate the special bond between the players and The Red Wall.

“This group of players represent so much more than just football and it was inspiring to learn more about the team’s higher purpose and what they play for. They are role models, history makers and a source of inspiration for young people across the country.

“I’m honoured to use my words to support them as they head into this crucial play-off and hopefully they will be greeted by a strong crowd for the second leg in Cardiff.”

Duke Al’s poem will be played at the Cardiff City Stadium as part of the pre-match build up for the play-off semi-final second leg, which takes place on Tuesday 29 October (KO 19:15).

Watch Duke Al’s spoken word poet and purchase tickets through the FAW webpage.

Follow Duke Al and view more of his work on his Instagram account.