The Football Foundation is investing £4.7 million into the scheme, the Metropolitan Police Service £3 million and £1 million through the DCMS from the Premier League’s good causes fund.  Matched funding provided by local bodies will boost the total amount to more than £11 million over three years.

Kickz, a partnership of 19 Premiership and 11 Football League clubs, offers young people the chance to take part in sports sessions three nights a week, 48 weeks of the year.

Activities include football leagues, tournaments and coaching sessions. Educational sessions are also offered to young people about issues such as healthy lifestyles and the dangers of drug use and carrying weapons.

As a result of the joint investment, Kickz will now be extended to more than 100 projects and 12,000 teenagers in the most deprived areas of the country, more than four times the existing provision.

This follows successful pilots at Tottenham Hotspur FC, Fulham FC, Brentford FC and Manchester City FC, which police said had helped break down barriers between young people and local police officers. The police reported that anti-social behaviour and low-level crime in the pilot areas fell by an average of 27 per cent on the days that Kickz sessions were held. Criminal damage was down 31 per cent on average and minor assault down 26 per cent on average.

The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport James Purnell will today visit a Kickz project to highlight the scheme’s success.

The Prime Minister said:

"Football clubs are perfectly placed to offer something back to some of the most marginalised members of society. Through Kickz they can help young people get involved in their community and learn self-respect, personal achievement and a sense of responsibility.

“Kickz shows the extraordinary power of football and sport in general to reach young people and provide a route into volunteering, training, education and employment.

"The funding we have pledged today will ensure that this partnership between the Government, football organisations and the police continues to grow and deliver positive results for young people and their wider communities in the years ahead."

top

Mr Purnell said:

“Giving young people the chance to play football in the evenings means that instead of hanging around on the streets they have something to do that they enjoy that is also healthy.

“This is an end in itself but Kickz is about much more than that. It helps build greater links between young people and the local police, and the evidence shows it can help cut anti-social behaviour.

“That’s why this fantastic scheme is worth backing. I applaud the Football Foundation, the Metropolitan Police and the Premier League for their excellent work on Kickz.”

Football Foundation Chief Executive Paul Thorogood said:

“I am proud of how effective Kickz has been in building safer communities and providing opportunities for our most disadvantaged young people.

“The Prime Minister’s vision, when he entrusted the Football Foundation with an additional £1 million in the 2006 Budget to deliver Kickz, is now an impressive reality.

“This significant new funding means that Kickz can reach even more towns and cities, offering hope to those in our most deprived urban areas while contributing to real reductions in crime and antisocial behaviour.”
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said:

"The Metropolitan Police is a proud supporter of Kickz. This latest investment means more young Londoners will get the chance to do something positive, be part of a team and meet their sporting heroes.

“Areas already benefiting from the programme have seen crime reduce and real engagement from the young people involved. The expansion of the Kickz programme will spread the positive influence of sport and complement our community focused policing."

Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore said:

"Kickz was created by the Premier League with the Metropolitan Police only 18 months ago. We are genuinely thrilled at the progress and results that it has shown in that short time.

“The Premier League will stay at the heart of Kickz; bringing not just the resources to help deliver it, but also the commitment of our Clubs and their players who are crucial in encouraging young people to become part of the project."

The new funding will mean that every Premier League and Football League club in London will be involved in the scheme in partnership with Police Safer Neighbourhoods teams and local authorities. Outside of the capital Aston Villa FC, Sheffield United FC and Reading FC are the latest clubs to join Kickz following the new investment.

Kickz’s ultimate ambition is to roll the scheme out nationwide, and to offer the programme to every professional football club in the country.

top

Notes to Editors

For further information please contact:

• DCMS press office on 020 7211 6971
• Alastair Bennett at the Football Foundation on 0845 345 455 ext. 4281
• Tim Vine at the Premier League on 020 7864 9190
• Sarah Mahoney at the Metropolitan Police Service on 07825 680528.

Kickz, created by the Metropolitan Police and the Premier League, was launched in April 2006 with pilot projects at four founder clubs (Tottenham Hotspur FC, Fulham FC, Brentford FC and Manchester City FC).

Kickz was designed to:

• engage young people in a range of constructive activities
• break down barriers between the police and young people
• reduce crime and anti-social behaviour in targeted neighbourhoods
• increase young people’s participation in sport and provide coaching and officiating opportunities
• create routes into volunteering, education, training and employment.

Comparing a four-month period in the year before the Kickz pilots were launched with the same four-month period a year later, the police found crime was down on average by 27 per cent on the days and times when sessions were delivered.

Following additional Government investment of £1 million in Autumn 2006, a further 21 clubs joined the scheme (Arsenal, Birmingham City, Crystal Palace, Charlton Athletic, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Leyton Orient, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Millwall, Newcastle United, Portsmouth, QPR, Sunderland, Watford, Wigan Athletic, West Bromwich Albion and West Ham United).

Today’s announcement extends the existing schemes to include five additional clubs (Aston Villa, Barnet, Dagenham and Redbridge, Reading and Sheffield United). Every professional London football club and most Premiership clubs will run a Kickz project from this year onwards.

As part of a three-year central funding package to each Kickz club and their partners, local match funding is required to encourage the long-term sustainability of the project.

The overall funding breakdown is as follows:
Football Foundation: £4.71 million
Metropolitan Police: £3 million
Department for Culture Media and Sport / Premier League: £1 million
Local match funding: £2.98 million (to be secured through local partners)

Twenty per cent of Kickz sessions take place in the top one per cent most deprived wards in England, while 84 per cent take place in the most deprived quarter of wards.

Nine major police forces around the country support Kickz (The Metropolitan Police Service, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Northumbria, West Midlands, Cleveland, Lancashire, Hampshire and South Yorkshire Police forces) and the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Kickz is also supported by the Football Foundation, Premier League, Football Association, DCMS, HM Treasury, Respect Task Force, Department of Health, Youth Volunteering Charity V, Peabody Housing Trust, and Supporters Direct.