From Street Corner to Corner Kickz

Football and English are two international languages that are understood all over the world. This Premier Skills story can help you with both of these world languages.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a football fanatic or you know nothing about the beautiful game—there will be something interesting here for you.

From Street Corner to Corner Kickz

What is the connection between scoring goals and reducing crime？ How can football help build a relationship between the police and young people in street gangs？ Blackburn Rovers， a Premier League club from the northwest of England， think they have some of the answers with their Kickz project.

What is the Kickz project？

For three nights a week and most weeks during the year Blackburn Rovers work with the police to help local young people. These kids are aged between 12 and 18 and are often from poorer areas of the city. The project allows them to play football， take part in fitness and music activities and train with Blackburn Rovers coaches. That means that every Thursday， Friday and Saturday， kids get to do something they enjoy instead of hanging about on the streets.

Earning respect

Blackburn Rovers are a big club with a long tradition and many young people in the area support the team. This makes them more likely to want to take part in projects like Kickz. The scheme is run by the football club， the police and local volunteers. Police officers playing football and refereeing matches help the youngsters to interact with authority in a way that might be new and unusual for them. A new respect is built： ‘On the street it’s not unusual for some of these kids to be in gangs， but on the pitch they’re part of one community，’ said one of the coaches.

What’s the impact？ Is it working？

Some of the participants in the Kickz project found it hard to work with the police at first. It takes time to build trust and change the way people act. Now， however， most of the participants are making really good progress. Local communities in Blackburn feel the benefit too. In some areas there has been a 50 per cent drop in anti-social behaviour and low-level crime. The Kickz project teenagers have better things to do with their time than go looking for trouble.

Wider impact

Kickz projects operate at other Premier League clubs around the country. There are Kickz clubs at Manchester United， Aston Villa and Chelsea. So far almost 25，000 children and teenagers have benefited from the project.

National tournament

In a national tournament for teams from Kickz clubs the Blackburn Rovers team beat Aston Villa and Fulham to make it to the semi-final. These kids from Blackburn played their semi-final at Stamford Bridge the home of Chelsea. For most kids， this would be a dream but the Kickz project has helped make that dream a reality and given a positive boost to young people in Blackburn and around the country.

ACTIVITY 1

a The article says this project helped young people—that it benefited young people.

Do you know of any local sports associations or football clubs that benefit young people？

b What else could football clubs do to help young people， especially to stop them from getting into trouble？

E-mail us and let us know： premierskills@britishcouncil.org

ACTIVITY 2

a Look at these words and expressions from the text. Do they have a positive meaning or a negative meaning？

hanging about on the streets     support     enjoy

making good progress       respect          found it hard

anti-social behaviour        feel the benefit      build trust

low-level crime           go looking for trouble

Positive

enjoy

Negative

hanging about on the streets

ACTIVITY 3

The article talks about young people. There are four other words or expressions used in the article that mean ‘young people’—can you find them？

ACTIVITY 4

Find out more Use the internet to find out more about Kickz projects. Are there any similar programmes in your country？

Search terms （search in English）

Kickz Project

Football in the community [my country]

YOU ARE THE REF   by Keith Hackett and Paul Trevillion

A player takes a quick throw and the ball comes back to him immediately. He’s still standing off the pitch， but kicks the ball back to a team-mate. The ball doesn’t cross the line. His teammate takes the ball and scores.

Do you give：

a） a goal？

b） a free kick？

c） a foul throw？

d） a drop ball？

a） It’s a goal. The ball stayed in play. All of the ball has to cross the touchline before it is dead. In this case the player who took the throw can strike the ball while he’s standing off the pitch.

KEY

Activity 2

Positive

enjoy

support

respect

build trust

making good progress

feel the benefit

Negative

hanging about on the

streets

found it hard

anti-social behaviour

low-level crime

go looking for trouble

Activity 3

kids， youngsters， teenagers， children