England v Czech Republic
Wednesday 20 August 2008
Wembley Stadium
Kick-off 8pm
Click here for ticket details 
18 Aug 2008
VIDEO: England stars back campaign

Rio Ferdinand, David James and David Beckham join the Home Secretary in calling for an end to knife crime.

The Football Association and the England football team today backed the Government’s ‘It doesn’t have to happen’ campaign to tackle knife crime urging young people not to carry knives.

The hard-hitting campaign, which was designed by youngsters, uses social networking site Bebo to reach a youth audience through dedicated website www.itdoesnthavetohappen.co.uk.

Defender Rio Ferdinand and goalkeeper David James took time out from their training schedule and appealed to young people not to carry knives. Ferdinand has been a long-standing anti-knife campaigner and is passionate on the subject. He grew up on an inner-city estate in Peckham in South London and helped establish the Damilola Taylor Trust in 2000 after the ten year-old was fatally stabbed nearby.

Earlier in the day, the whole England squad posed behind a banner promoting the website and whilst the team are together various players will record viral messages - appealing directly to this target audience via the Internet.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith welcomed the England players’ and The FA’s support, and said: “I am delighted that The Football Association and the England Football team are supporting our ‘It doesn’t have to happen’ campaign warning youngsters about the severe consequences of knife crime. We can only solve this by working together. The England players are role models for this generation and I hope that their messages have a positive impact.

“I want to reassure the public that we, the Government, the police and local authorities are doing all we can to tackle knives and getting knives off our streets.”

England Manager Fabio Capello said: “The players are well aware of the positive impact they can have on those growing up and I am proud that they have taken the initiative to support this important programme.”

The campaign is part of the Government’s new Tackling Knives Action Programme, set up earlier this year to address knife crime problems in ten key police force areas in England and Wales. The Programme is led by the Association of Chief Police Officers’ lead on knife crime, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alf Hitchcock.

Hitchcock said: “Knife crime causes massive grief and pain to both victims’ families and their communities and that is why we have a duty both to the public to take a tough approach to those who carry knives without good reason.

“Young people need to realise there is nothing glamorous about carrying a knife and we must send a clear message to offenders that knife carrying will not be tolerated in today’s society. We owe it to those who do not carry knives to be protected from those that do.

“Recently we have seen the emergence of a worrying trend in relation to knife crime. We have seen both intensification in the severity of offending and a worrying change in the age profile of offenders and victims, which has decreased from mid-late teens to early twenties down to early-to-mid-teens. The Police Service and its partner agencies are working extremely hard to reverse this trend, and look to others to help us.

“We need to find other ways to channel youngsters, to give them a sense of structure, enhance their life skills through education and training. Getting involved in a sport is one way of doing this.”

The police forces involved in the Tackling Knives Action Programme are the Metropolitan Police, Merseyside, Essex, Lancashire, West Yorkshire, West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Nottinghamshire, South Wales and Thames Valley.

These regions are all areas in which The Football Foundation make significant investments every year [see accompanying FF media information]. The Foundation is the UK’s largest sports charity with an annual income of £45 million provided by The Football Association, Premier League and the Government.

The Football Foundation has invested over £39 million into 347 social inclusion projects in England with a total project cost of £77 million. One of the flagship schemes is the Kickz programme which uses the power of football and appeal of professional clubs to engage young people in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country.

This football industry and police initiative gives thousands of 12-18 year-olds the chance to participate in football three times a week breaking down barriers between the police and young people, reducing crime and anti-social behaviour and links up with the Government’s Every Child Matters policy.

The Football Association has given 1,000 Kickz youngsters tickets for this Wednesday’s match against the Czech Republic and - in addition - Wembley Stadium is supporting Brent Council’s Peace March next month on 20 September.