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Street football success
11/04/2008
The Scottish Government-funded Street Football initiative, which is funded from the proceeds of crime has already attracted hundreds of young people from throughout Scotland.
The Scottish Football Association is running Street Football events the length and breadth of the country at 92 venues over the Easter school holidays.
The events are part of the Government's CashBack for Communities scheme which uses the money and goods seized from serious organised criminals to make a real difference to the lives of young people across Scotland.
Speaking in advance of visiting a Street Football event in Dundee, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said:
"The vast majority of Scotland's young people are law abiding, although there are still too many getting involved in crime and antisocial behaviour. The devil finds time for idle hands. Giving kids the chance to burn off their energy playing football keeps them from getting up to mischief or worse.
"The Scottish Government wants all of our young people to have the opportunity to realise their potential and give them hopes and aspirations for the future.
"It is really encouraging that already hundreds of young people throughout Scotland have taken advantage of these free football activities during their school holidays.
"Football as our national game can play a part in giving young people positive things to do with their lives. That is why, as part of our CashBack for Communities scheme, we are supporting a number of football-related activities, including six schools-based academies, which will see upwards of 30,000 young people participating across the country.
"As well as the football activities, we are funding youth projects in all 32 local authority areas in Scotland and will shortly announce details of funding for other sporting activities as well as arts and culture activities.
"It is fitting that we are taking the ill-gotten gains of criminals and using them to give something back to our communities. We want to show our children and young people that there is a better way.
"CashBack for Communities is the means by which we will do so, making a real difference to the lives of young people throughout Scotland and helping them to be all they can be."
Attracting young people during school holidays can be difficult and the aim of this Street Football programme is to target key disadvantaged areas where young people often revert to crime and anti-social behaviour as a result of having no activity to get involved with.
Using a new network of UEFA and Scottish FA funded MUGA pitches (40 pitches available across Scotland from March 2008) and other local authority facilities in areas which currently don't have football activity, street football events will be held during the day or at night for boys and girls aged from 10 to 16 years. In addition there are a number of mobile street football pitches based in local communities which will also be utilized to ensure activity is readily available. The programme, to be funded by the Scottish Government's CashBack for Communities scheme, will be delivered via the Scottish FA Community Programme and its local authority partners and senior clubs.
This new activity will aim to get to the heart of attracting disengaged young people who often are difficult to attract into any activity. Young people will have the chance to select their own teams and will have input into the style of the events in their own community. The main focus will, in conjunction with local police, be to target hotspots and deprived areas where most benefit from the introduction of this programme would occur.
Following on from this Easter's activities, it is planned to hold Street Football events in all local authority areas over the Summer and October school holidays.