Expansion Helps Take Football Beyond Borders To The North West
Going Beyond The Capital’s Boundary
One day, after a series of riots took place in London before the 2012 Olympics, a bloke hired a football pitch in Camberwell hoping the young people from the area would find a different life path through football.
Nearly a decade on, that small gathering has turned into social inclusion charity Football Beyond Borders (FBB), which is scoring notable results and now has the North West of England in its sight.
In a year when Covid massively disrupted life – and education – for the 12–16-year-olds they work with, 98% of all their participants stayed in mainstream school. Just as impressive is the fact their students beat the national average pass rate for GCSE English and Maths by 20%.
Its success in helping thousands of teenagers who would normally drop out of the school system is catching the eye of educators beyond the capital, with a major expansion plan into parts of Merseyside, Manchester, and Lancashire about to get underway.
At least 300 extra young people will be helped as Football Beyond Borders crosses the capital boundary and sets up initial support schemes in parts of Greater Manchester and Merseyside, thanks to funding from Bury-based retailer JD and Nike.
The modus operandi when explained by that ‘bloke’ – AKA co-director Jasper Kain- sounds simple.
“We are an education inclusion charity working with teenagers who are typically underachieving at school but have a passion for football. We have developed a model which gets them to turn up to school and develop the key social and emotional skills such as being more self-aware, being able to take responsible decisions, being part of a team.
“This part of their development is so that they can sit their GCSE and they can do well at them and then make a successful transition into adulthood. We are basically trying to work with those young people to enhance their soft skills through something they love – football – so they can be ready take that next step in their life.”
Jasper’s stint at Chelsea’s academy ended when he was released before his GCSEs, and he discovered quickly he had to find a new pathway away from playing the game.
But he felt there were many assets from his time as a player which he could transfer into his new academic life – and this is what he wants the young people he works with to recognise.
“I thought, if football had the ability to educate me, then why can’t it be used to educate others?
“At the time, I was working in London and there were riots. I saw a lot of young people who were passionate about football but were quite angry and feeling disenfranchised. I thought there’s got to be a way of engaging them. So, we hired a football pitch in Camberwell and invited some along.
“You quickly realise many of these children had been let down by the adults around them – they were not there for them. What that person often needs will be a coach or a kind of role model. And that is core to how we support the teenagers we work with.
“Where we differentiate ourselves from other initiatives is that we run a long-term programme. We work with the young person for at least three years, usually every week. It’s very intensive and it’s about developing, trusting and consistent relationships.
“Adolescence is a crazy time in life, when you’re trying to navigate all of these huge changes. Crucially, what you need is that person who will be a role model in your life. So that’s really important to us in terms of the success.”
Being that mentor for a handful of kids in Camberwell is a league away from the 1500-plus young people who are on FBB’s books currently.
“What we do is we create an environment where everything we do is about whether that teenager can feel safe? Because without safety then you can’t learn, you can’t progress.
“We stay true to our word. We ensure that we’re there, even during a pandemic. We transition every week – online if we have to – so there’s that there’s that continuity.”
The final trick in the FBB playbook is to turn the external attitude about the young person on its head.
“When a young person enrols, they often come to us because there is a perception they have a deficit or a weakness. It could be misbehaviour at school or underachieving in English, for instance.
“What we do is we try and flip it on its head and say, ‘OK, there may be some deficit, but what are the strengths’? What are the things they love? And football normally is the key to that.
“We have people who play academy-standard football, but we have others who wouldn’t even make the third team at school. So, it could be within the wider football industry.
“We say, OK, you love playing FIFA, so let’s try and harness that so you could use the skills you have from that.
“How can we help them regulate their emotions when losing a game? How can they use maths skills to calculate analytics for their best FIFA team? This is how we use football to improve their academic and life-skills to lead them away from a path of not developing in the modern world.
“And it’s about opening their eyes to the wider world. Many of our students have never even left their town for a holiday. We take them for tournaments at the other end of the country or to various football events. They see almost a new world and their confidence builds as a result.”
So, whilst there have been some common learnings as Football Beyond Borders grew in the capital, when it decided its next stop would be the North West, there were some interesting cultural and logistical differences to overcome.
Starting with 100 young people in the region, FBB hope to be supporting 500 by Spring 2022. With no strong local government funding streams, the move has only been made possible by funding received from JD. The ultimate aim is to take that to 1000 before considering other regions.
The partnership sees them initially support young people in Bolton, St Helens, Liverpool and Blackpool, then move into Blackburn, Burnley and east Manchester.
“There are two things that made the North West an obvious area for expansion for us,” says Jasper.
“Firstly, three of the top 10 boroughs with the highest school exclusion rates in England are in the North West. Statistics on attainment and GCSE grades also highlighted a need.
“Second thing is you see a huge passion for football in the North West, which I think is undeniable. From very early on, we could see it amongst both boys and girls.
“It’s an appetite that maybe differs slightly from London and in terms of the fandom element amongst youngsters, I think there is still a bit more of a culture of young people attending live football, and that really shone through.”
Whilst those things would suggest working in the region would be pushing at an open door, there were a couple of major issues which FBB must overcome if their success in the smoke is to be matched in the one-time smoke chimney skylines of Lancashire, Merseyside and Manchester.
“Whilst deprivation is common to both areas, we found in London there was already quite a lot of provision in terms of additional support. But there wasn’t in the North West.
“So, in Lambeth, for example you may find a school could have anywhere up to 20 external providers to support struggling students. But, we were going into schools in Bolton and Burnley where we were just one of two providers for this kind of support. That felt like it was a really important moment.”
Their belief was enhanced when a one-time Manchester United player persuaded them there was a role in the area for Football Beyond Borders.
“At the time we started looking at working in the North West, we got talking to Chris Smalling.
“Whilst he’d grown up in the south, he said, ‘look, Manchester, I spent nine years here. This is my home now and I’ve seen what you’ve done, and I’d love you to do that here’.
“He really gave us the impetus to explore in terms of attitudinal differences.”
Jasper is delighted that a quarter of the participants in their North West work so far are girls – a higher take-up than in London.
“That number is growing all the time. I think there is a real culture of girls playing. But still too often they’re dropping off at the age of 13 or 14. That’s an exciting challenge to keep them in the sport for longer.”
So, what defines success for this future partnership of football and education?
“The continuing aim is to have those high GCSE and school engagement success rates. But now our first cohort is reaching 18 years old, how many of them are going into employment will soon be a metric worth watching.
“We have 15 staff who are former scheme participants. The ripple effect of that is huge. But it does require a certain model of long-term, intensive investment in the young people we are trying to help.
“You can’t just do this in a six-week summer camp with 2000 kids attending.”
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Football Beyond Borders: Our Mission
We exist to change the lives of young people. There are thousands of young people who are passionate about football but are not fulfilling their potential at school.
FBB supports young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who are passionate about football but disengaged at school in order to help them finish school with the skills and grades to make a successful transition into adulthood. We do this by providing long-term, intensive support, built around relationships and young people’s passions, in the classroom and beyond.
