Bringing back the old days of street football

Jun 24 2009 by Colin Paterson, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

IT used to be that kids would head out into the street to play football and not come home until the sky was pitch black or their mothers were ushering them in by the lug.

Some of this country’s finest footballers learned the tools of their trade down lanes or while expertly avoiding cars on the road.

Like many things in life, times change. There are too many distractions for youngsters these days - playing football outside is no longer the hobby of choice.

But in order to create the soccer stars of tomorrow, North Lanarkshire Council, working with their partner agencies, are looking to the past.

A mobile five-a-side football pitch will be regularly wheeled out across communities in Monklands this summer, giving children the chance to develop their skills.

The programme ran successfully last year and relaunched six weeks ago. But this isn’t just a scheme designed to keep youngsters out of trouble for a couple of hours.

It’s a project that could eventually lead a local youngster along the path to professional football stardom.

“We are trying to bring back the old days of street football,” says Willie McNab, assistant football development officer with NLC at the official relaunch at Airdrie’s Alexandra Primary School last Thursday.

“That is something we don’t see much of any more but it was how many football players improved their control of the ball and their skills.

“We have a youth football structure that is as good as what the professional clubs have got and which gets kids involved at three and continues until they are 19.

“There have been 10 players who have come through our ranks and gone into professional football clubs. One of them, Connor Stevenson, has played for Clyde’s first-team.”

NLC senior development officer, Scott Allison, added: “I have seen this mobile football pitch be hugely successful in other local authority areas.

“We are trying to engage more with school pupils and we will be taking the arena out into the communities to give kids opportunities to get involved in sport.

“There may be kids hanging about the streets who don’t realise that they can get into sport through us.

“We feel this is the first step towards helping youngsters develop their talent in sport. Not only do we have qualified coaches but we have good links with professional clubs.”

The mobile pitch was gifted to the Time Capsule in Coatbridge by Lanarkshire Alcohol and Drug Partnership last year.

Management at the Time Capsule have trained the leisure and learning football development team in the set-up of the arena and will assist them when the facility visits communities identified by police as having the potential for youth disorder.

Councillor Jim Logue, convener of learning and chair of the Time Capsule, revealed that there are plans in place to create a portable ice-skating arena.

He added: “We are trying to ensure school pupils have two hours of PE every week and this is a creative way of meeting that challenge.

“Portable ice rinks are working well on the continent and we would be the first area in the UK to have something like this.

“We have all the costs for the project and there is no reason why we can’t do this. These types of facilities give the local community a tremendous boost.”