Justice Secretary visits Hawick Street Football & Rugby event
Wednesday, November 19 2008
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill visited Hawick on Friday (14 November) to see how the Scottish Government’s Cashback for Communities funding is being used to deliver a brand new street football and rugby event in the town.
The event is a joint initiative between the Scottish Football Association (SFA), Scottish Rugby Union (SRU), Scottish Borders Council (SBC) and the Scottish Borders Community Safety Partnership – including Lothian & Borders Police and Fire Service.
It kicked off on 7 November and offers a comprehensive four-week activity programme for secondary school-aged youngsters.
It gives them the opportunity to play tag rugby and five-a-side football on an inflatable pitch every Friday night as well as the chance to play FIFA 09 in the mobile computer centre onsite.
The initiative is free of charge as part of the Government’s CashBack for Communities scheme, which takes the ill-gotten gains of serious organised criminals and reinvests them into communities.
A special reception was held at the Heart of Hawick before the event. Executive Member for Sport, Culture and Community Education, Councillor Graham Garvie, welcomed Mr MacAskill and explained his enthusiasm for the project:
“The fundamental basis of our sport and physical activity strategy is to ensure no-one is discriminated against and to make sure everyone – no matter their age, ability, gender or social and economic background – has the opportunity to realise their potential and reach their goals in their chosen sport or activity.
“It is not just about learning new skills but it’s about having fun in a healthy and safe environment which, in turn, may inspire these young people to carry on with this into the future and lead healthy, happy and successful lives.
“We are therefore very excited about this partnership project and it is with special thanks to the Government’s Cashback for Communities scheme that this can happen.”
Speaking at the event Kenny MacAskill said: “This joint Scottish SFA / Scottish Rugby project in Hawick, assisted by the local community safety team, is the kind of partnership working that can show our youngsters that there is much more to life than drink, drugs and offending.”
Senior Football Development Officer Dougie Anderson has been involved in the organisation of the event and added: “I am delighted to see so many young people coming along and enjoying themselves. We now have 90 children from the age of 12 to 15 registered although we had considerably more there each night.
In order to bring this event together it has been a great group effort between the SFA, SRU and Community safety partnership. Special thanks also must go to the fire service and police for all their assistance at the events.”
Participants who attend the four week block will be entered into a free prize draw for the chance to win a replica football or rugby top of their choice.
Organisers will be asking for feedback from participants via the Young Scot website www.youngscot.org.
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