HOME SECRETARY HAILS PREMIER LEAGUE AND POLICE FOR BUILDING SAFER AND STRONGER COMMUNITIES THROUGH KICKZ
The Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Theresa May, has praised the work of Kickz at a reception in the House of Commons to celebrate five years of the innovative project that uses the power and appeal of professional football clubs’ to engage young people who may otherwise be difficult to reach.
Kickz is a partnership between the Premier League and the Metropolitan Police and targets some of the most challenging and disadvantaged communities which suffer from higher rates of crime and anti-social behaviour. It began in 2006 following discussions between Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore and Tim Godwin, Acting Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police, with three London pilot projects at Brentford, Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur football clubs.
Five years on, 113 local projects are being delivered by 43 clubs in the Premier League and Football League, helping in excess of 50,000 young people. There are over 650 partners including 61 local authorities, 64 steering groups, all 32 London Boroughs and 19 police force areas.
The reception brought together Kickz participants and partners, as well as MPs from constituencies where many of the 43 clubs operate.
The Home Secretary said: “We all know how many supporters enjoy watching football, but the idea of using its strength to help young people in this way is fantastic. I congratulate Richard Scudamore and Tim Godwin for coming together and making this idea work, because it is obviously having a tremendous impact across the whole country.
“Kickz is a wonderful project and the number of young people involved is great. It’s doing really good work enabling them to not just be taken out of situations in which they might get involved in gangs or crime, but actually giving young people a voice and enabling them to be heard. All those involved in it deserve a great deal of praise, especially those that volunteer, as they make it what it is.”
Action from the Bolton Project at Castle Hill
Those sentiments were echoed by Richard Scudamore who added: “The Premier League and the Police may be behind Kickz but it is the 50,000 participants who have made it a success. So often stereotyped as troublemakers because of where they live, the young people involved in Kickz projects prove time and again how optimistic, creative and talented they are. They have the same aspirations as young people everywhere – to get on in life, enjoy themselves, make friends and give something back to their neighbourhood.”
“Kickz is our greatest community success story. It is a tale of proactive engagement, developing potential, targeting the right people, creating safer communities and building solid partnerships.”
Kickz delivery is targeted geographically at communities where young people are considered to be of greater risk in terms of being affected by crime, either as victims or potential offenders, and over 75% of participants live in the top 30% most deprived areas of the country. In the communities where Kickz takes place, police crime analysis reports have showed very positive trends in the reduction of anti-social behaviour, criminal damage and violence against the person, thanks in large part to 91% of the projects being delivered on a Friday and/or Saturday evening.
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