| "One of the key factors of football on the street is that there was very little adult interference" |
| Thursday, 18 October 2007 | |
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Street life Wednesday, 18 February 2004 By Luke Williams Street football is alive and well in Africa In 2001, a group of coaches met in Geneva and concluded that the decline of 'street football' was damaging youth development. Breeding ground How so? Most people's ideas of street football revolve around memories of unsupervised and anarchic scrambles for the ball, jumpers for goalposts, and close encounters with broken glass. Hardly the breeding ground for future world beaters ... or was it? Increasingly rare The sight of children playing impromptu football matches in city streets has become increasingly rare. Increases in traffic and crime levels are two reasons cited for this decline, while rises in living standards and the development of computer games and satellite television have increased levels of child passivity, not to mention obesity. Many cities barely tolerate street football now - for example in Bradford, England in 2000 the local council issued a warning to children not to play in the streets. Improvisatory aspects Where once youngsters learnt their skills through experience and improvisation, now they pick them up in the more clinical environment of football schools and development programmes. This is no bad thing, but regimented coaching does seem to neglect the improvisatory aspects of the game which street football nurtured. Less flair? It is no accident that the most gifted English player to emerge in the last decade, Wayne Rooney of Everton FC, is primarily a street-bred talent, Liverpool being one of the few British cities where street football survives. However, generally among European-born players, there seems to be less flair than in years gone by. ""You notice how many European teams go and buy their flair from Africa and South America"," said UEFA technical director Andy Roxburgh recently. And it is true – in both these relatively impoverished continents street football is alive and well, and so is flair and invention. Back to the streets Many UEFA member associations are now developing programmes which bring back elements of street football to nurture players for whom spontaneity is the norm. "The truth is it's not easy for kids now to just go out on the street and have a game," Les Reed, acting technical director of the English Football Association told uefa.com. "One of the key factors of football on the street is that there was very little adult interference. Too coach-centered? "We may just have become too coach-centred over the years. "We're trying to introduce schemes which replicate street football". We let the kids make up the rules and give them a bit more freedom because that helps in their decision-making when they get older." Football tennis Roxburgh also cites the example of AFC Ajax as a club who have integrated more 'free' programmes into their youth develoment. Several nights a week the Eredivisie side provide sessions at which coaches encourage, but the children choose what they want to do. "I saw four kids practise scissors kicks while playing football tennis," Roxburgh recalled. "No coach in the world would ever have developed a game like that." Free play areas In order for unsupervised football to thrive again, more free play areas are needed across Europe, and this need is being addressed by UEFA in a special scheme which aims to construct at least one mini-pitch in each of the 52 UEFA member countries by the end of 2004. Football for anyone, anywhere As Per Omdal, UEFA vice-president and president of the Norwegian Football Association said: "The idea is to promote playing football, for anybody, anywhere at any time." Such sentiments indicate that street football may not be dying after all, just reincarnating. |
