Football battles to prevent gang "war"
3:40pm Saturday 1st November 2008
Football-playing teenagers have kicked off a tournament designed to tackle the scourge of youth crime.
Around 50 young people aged between 8 and 15-years-old battled for supremacy today on the Power League five-a-side pitches in Turtle Road, Streatham.
But off the pitch the aim was to unite boys from 11 teams from different parts of south west London by a shared love of the game.
Action for Children project worker Michael Ekwue said: "The tournament was about coming together and putting young people from different backgrounds and different postcodes in one place without all the upsets that young people face in today's society.
"A lot of young people we work with have low self-esteem but today went really well. We have had awards and trophies.
"More of this will help communities and give young people more things to do and lower crime."
Sharon Hanson handed out trophies to the winning teams and certificates to supportive parents.
She said: "We got the money from Team England when our ex-manager put in a bid for £5,000.
"We have had a good turnout and they seemed to enjoy it.
"Where these boys wouldn't mix or there would be a war between the different communities, they are supporting each other."
Jamaine Wellington, 16, from Kennington, was one of the young people praised at an after-tournament ceremony in the clubhouse.
He said: "I have ordered the kits, got people to go to train, call people to let them know what the team is.
"It was quite hard doing it and it would have been nice to have been given a trophy," he joked, but said he was happy to be thought of as a kind-of assistant manager.
Action for Children works with vulnerable Afro-Caribbean and mixad-race young boys to tackle injustice, deprivation and inequality.
For more information visit www.actionforchildren.org.uk
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