‘Barriers can indeed be broken’

Neil Maggs, who presents Midweek SportsBar on BFCM, visits the Bristol Together Championships to find out if bringing children from different backgrounds across the city together has worked.

Armed with a mic and a note pad I made my way to the Bristol Together Championships at Keynsham Town on Friday in searing heat wondering whether Mr Blatter or a FIFA delegate had taken me up on my kind invitation.

I was greeted immediately by a swarm of young primary school children of all persuasions laughing and running around playing football. I headed for the shaded stand area to seek out the organisers of this unique schools initiative.

Holly Maurice and Deone Rees had a vision of using football as a way to bring the disparate areas of the city together through football. They  co-ordinated 38 primary schools and 180 young people from all over the city in a series of training events and a grand final event.

Was Bristol actually really divided and in need of bringing together, I pondered? Deone declared that some people don’t leave their estate, cross different lines and we need to remember it’s our city, it belongs to us all.

“Sport, particularly football, is a great leveller and enables young people to come together. The aims of the initiative were clearly ambitious. For Holly the vision was clear. The objective was not just to break barriers but to sow the seeds of social mobility. She was adamant that “depending on where you live in Bristol, it can have an impact on your chances to go to university, so we are trying to bridge that gap, starting at a young age.” she said.

I bumped into visiting MP Kerry McCarthy and she echoed this sentiment. “You really have that divide in Bristol, you have people from certain communities that don’t feel that they own the city in the same way that the people in the more affluent areas do.”

I wondered whether this was asking a lot for a football programme to achieve. Walking around the surrounding pitch area, what was interesting and possibly different than other events I have attended before was the clear cultural mixing of children within their teams.

Schools were twined with each other from different parts of the city. One team had a mix of a couple of white children, two black pupils, male and female, a mixed race boy and a Somaili girl. Deone explained that “for some children from certain parts of the city this maybe the first time they had socialised with a girl with a muslim headscarf on”. 

The schools had all been at a number of training sessions before the event to get to know each other. All the sessions and co-ordination of the football on the day was carried out by coaches from Bristol City Community Trust Foundation and head coach Jim had seen the journey the groups had been on from the beginning.

“Well I have been present pretty much at all the sessions across the city and its been interesting to see the developments between the two groups. In the early stages there was a lot of nervousness, but as the weeks have gone on they have certainly developed those relationships, and some schools have even been meeting up for shared lunchtime,” she said.

The teaching staff present all seemed pleased with the relationships being built, particularly Denton, a teaching assistant from Whitehall primary. When asked whether he had seen any changes in the children’s mindset and attitude towards moving outside their area, he replied “Definitely. From the first training session they were reserved and shy and everything, not knowing each others names. Now they are more comfortable.”

A key strand to the scheme was for the children to keep a diary and being encouraged to record their feelings – be they positive or negative – throughout the process. Denton explained; “Both schools then shared these with each other to teachers and they realised there were more similarities than differences. They shared the same fears, and hopes.”

Everyone I spoke to seemed clear of the social role of football and the wider context of the aims; to use football as a way of overcoming class, race, faith, and geographical boundaries.

On the surface it appeared to be working, but am well aware that professionals will always give a positive spin on any event, so I wanted to dig deeper and talk to some young people to hear directly what impact the scheme was having on them.

One real interesting twinning was between Wick Primary and Easton Primary, two schools with very different demographics. Circled by the whole team, none being shy in coming forward to chat, they proudly told me that they had named their team Wickston – a hybrid of both. I was interested to find out what they anticipated the other school being like. 

One young Wick pupil said: “When I first saw Easton it was really weird because I had never met people like that from there before.” One of the lads from Easton,  was “excited, as I thought they would have a huge grass pitch”.  But now having met and spent time together, “I became more used to it and am now having great fun”. I asked whether they would stay in touch, go to each other’s houses for dinner. They looked at eac hother, laughed and said, “maybe!”

Crossing boundaries cuts both ways. For MP Kerry McCarthy the more ‘inter mingling, the more cross boundaries, for sets of young people from both affluent areas and deprivation areas, the better.’

The key to the success of sport initiatives like this is sustainability. How can we ensure that funding is secured and a long-term strategy for understanding the social impact sport can play is implemented? Potential Labour mayor candidate Marvin Rees was clear that there needs to be some research into the social capital of sport. “So this event doesn’t cost much to put on, but you think about the long-term benefits for young people. They will have positive life experience, build some resilience, build new relationships. If you can avoid having 10 negative influences, over the next 10 years, through building relationships at an age when young people are supported to cross barriers, it more than pays for itself.”

Bristol is now seeing some success at a professional level, but the importance and socio-economic value of sport at a grassroots level is still underestimated. However, when I asked one  child if the tournament was about meeting new friends and just having fun, I was stopped abruptly in my tracks. She looked at me sternly and stated: “Our aim is to get to the final. When everyone says it’s not about winning, it’s the taking part, they are always lying!” The on-looking teachers and myself all laughed.  

Barriers can indeed be broken, but it is always nice to win a trophy or two. Even Sepp Blatter will tell you that.

Neil Maggs is a sport development consultant, presents Midweek SportsBar on BFCM, and is Director of Street2Elite promoting the development, value and promotion of grassroots sport.