Look What You Can Do Through Football!!!

Back in those grey days, of the mid to late Eighties, football was hardly 'the' sport to be involved in, unlike today. The Bradford Stadium Fire, Hillsborough and The Heysel Stadium riot, a series of disastrous events in the English game, led to all English football clubs banned from Europe and all supporters unfairly depicted as Hooligans by the press and politicians. Football had a blackened name and a lowly profile, people had forgotten what a positive and fantastic sport it was, and the great loyalty and spirit that's in the majority of its supporters.

Nothing can be clearer in highlighting these positive aspects of Football than The Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme (LOCSP). After the Professional Football Association (PFA) decided to set up community work for kids, 16 years ago, many clubs and schemes have seized upon these ideas to raise the image of Football and show the good it can do.

The LOCSP was incredibly pro-active in it's approach, as it expanded away from not just coaching kids but to help whole areas regenerate and flourish, by educating and achieving through Football.

While the LOCSP maybe based at the Leyton Orient Football ground, and shares the name with the local team, they now are fully independent from the club and have charitable status. This allows them to bid for money from charitable and educational trusts, the government and other public bodies. In the time since they became a charity it has tripled in size and  is now seen as probably the biggest in the country of its kind.

They employ 12-13 full-time staff and run a full programme throughout the year that has expanded to sports other than Football.

Talking with Phil Rudling, the LOCSP's Educational Officer, showed just how incredibly vital the role of Football is in the community and in the lives of all people. He highlighted that while the programme doesn't claim to change people's lives, it can help, and that specifically people can and do learn through Football.

Think of all the skills that a game of football involves teamwork, co-ordination, good temperament, forward planning as well as being a good way to relax and get quality physical exercise.

The scheme provides Footballing opportunities for all, whether it's after school, during the holidays or in school time, all leading to the benefit of the community. It keeps people busy and out of trouble and stops isolation of certain members of the community, as the whole programme is for both sexes and is very multicultural. The activities of the programme vary immensely, from having up to a thousand kids playing for teams in organised league, to helping to improve literacy and numeracy by basing work around football. Undertaking activities like measuring the pitch, writing about football news and breaking up the day by having football skills lessons.

The tournaments and leagues that are organised also perfectly illustrate the meaning of 'grass-roots' football, which all organisations should encourage.

The LOCSP is an organisation many could not envisaged 12 years ago when Football hit rock bottom, but it's funny what can change over the course of a decade. Football has turned into a sport everyone wants to be involved in and has now earned a very good name, and that has had a lot to do with these kind of programmes.

While the good name has been 'dragged through the mud' once more with hooligans at Euro 2000 and 'yobbish behaviour' plastered all over the tabloids by certain players, the way for the 'beautiful game' to flourish is to concentrate on the overwhelming positive aspects. The LOCSP is a perfect example of this.

For More Info On The LOCSP And The Programme Currently Running Go To:

http://www.locsp.freeserve.co.uk

or altrenatively ring: 020 8556 5973/020 8925 1230

by ChrisM