Are you a parent whose kids play football? Are you a coach who coaches kids? Do you run a youth club? Are you a football fan concerned with youth development in this country? Then you should learn more about the Give Us Back Our Game campaign.

Set up, maintained and supported by like minded football coaches, teachers, parents, sport development officers, children’s welfare officers, academics and a growing list of professional football clubs who are all disturbed by the systematic destruction of street football in the UK and the overbearing involvement of adults where youth football is concerned, Give Us Back Our Game is self explanatory.

It aims to give children back their game by promoting fun & development before winning, that the game is the best teacher and not an adult, plenty of free play, no coaching or shouting from the sidelines, to let children find their own solutions, to encourage expression & creativity, playing in different positions, freedom to fail and to give every kid the equal opportunity to freely play football regardless of ability, physical condition or sex.

Football for kids today is very different from the football you or I may have played out on the streets where there were no adults involved, where WE officiated games and where EVERYONE got a chance to play and in a position YOU wanted to play in.

Back then football was fun, but today thousands of kids are leaving the sport due to:

Football no longer being the children’s game – but controlled by adults

The same children always on the bench or omitted every game

Coaches and parents screaming from the touchline

Winning coming before fun and development

Not enough free play where they can solve their own problems

Not being encouraged to express themselves

No longer being allowed to learn about the spirit of the game for themselves

Due to safety issues and political correctness kids have fewer places to play football these days with streets a “no ball games” zone due to oncoming traffic, the threat to peoples’ windows, perverts and other ‘dangers’ where as more and more open space once preserved for headers and volleys and 20-a-side free for all matches is being targeted as “prime development land” as the country tries to deal with the demand for new housing.

The upshot of this is kids are being coerced into looking for youth clubs to play their football, often fully booked up 5-a-side centres or expensive soccer camps – things that are all dominated by adults. And where there are adults there is officialdom and for kids that means NO FUN.

Quite simply more and more kids are turning their backs on the game because of the overbearing involvement of adults.

Give Us Back Our Game can’t do anything about the destruction of street football, the cost of soccer camps or the lack of available open space but it does aim to make coaches, parents, schools and the game in general from grassroots level all the way to the Premiership more aware of the needs of kids and that we as adults are having a damaging effect on the very future of our game by having a major influence on it now.

The decline in youngsters taking up the game is being felt here in Newcastle especially as more and more youth teams struggle to fulfill their fixtures or have to advertise for new players due to dropouts and in years to come that will be felt at St. James’ Park too - both on and off the stands.

You can help by pledging your support to this worthy cause and by helping to promote the Give Us Back Our Game campaign to local schools, youth clubs, fellow parents and football clubs. Visit the website today to find out more information.