Youngsters join police in online football tournament
Football was coming home for a group of young people who took part in an online tournament with police during lockdown.
Officers from Birmingham Police's Safe Haven team arranged a FIFA competition to help plug the void due to regular matches and training sessions being cancelled due to the pandemic.
The project began 11 years ago and aims to keep young adults away from crime and anti-social behaviour.
Since the country went into lockdown, Safe Haven officers have maintained contact with their members with Instagram video challenges − including the "toilet roll keepie uppie" challenge − before being ready to kick-off their online FIFA footy league.
The trial event launched eight weeks ago with 32 teams and was played and streamed live on You Tube so other youngsters could watch the tournament.
It was a huge success and officers have continued to facilitate games three times a week, setting up matches, scheduling kick-off times, creating the league table and getting all the players on board.
PC David Steadman, from Safe Haven team, said: "We didn’t want to lose contact with these amazing young people who we’ve spent years building up their trust. I didn’t want them to become bored and disinterested and end up turning to the streets for entertainment.
"The key thing for me is that I know for every tournament and game that takes place, I know those lads are safely at home, and following government guidelines.
"Over coming weeks, as the restrictions ease, we plan on conducting outreach in the areas in which the bases are held, open spaces and home visits to the young people most at need.
"We have 16 seven-a-side teams waiting to sign up after the pandemic, we can’t wait to be back in action properly!"
