Here you can find out about Arsenal in the Community, the Club’s Community Department which was established in the early 1980s.
Ever
since the move to north London in 1913, Arsenal has held a very special
place in the heart of the local community, but it wasn’t until the
early eighties that community engagement really began in a structured
fashion.
In the summer of 1981, England was rocked by racial and
social unrest across inner city areas. These riots acted as a wake-up
call to politicians and even sports policy makers and administrators. Of
course, we knew that in those areas there were many keen and talented
sports players, but a closer look revealed that most of the new sports
facilities that had been built in the 1970s in the inner-city areas in
which they lived were not being used by these local youngsters.
The
Sports Council’s Action Sport programme was created to encourage
participation among the regions’ urban communities to participate in
recreational and competitive sport. From this, an innovative idea was
put forward; since most football clubs were in the heart of the
community and had a special place in the hearts of young people and
their culture, sport sessions organised by the club would surely enthuse
even the most reluctant participant. Arsenal was already undertaking
this kind of work under Vic Akers who had coached in Arsenal’s Centre of
Excellence for school boys before he was appointed as Arsenal’s first
ever Community Liaison Officer in February 1985.
This was the
start of ‘football in the community’ and with the support of Ken Friar
OBE and the backing of the board, Arsenal Football Club was proud to be
there from the beginning.
Alan Sefton was invited by Ken Friar to
join Arsenal’s fledgling community sports teams in 1986 and help
develop the schemes. The process started with the community use of
Arsenal's JVC Sports Centre behind the Clock End at Highbury. As soon
as the community programme started, it became a hive of activity hosting
soccer schools, indoor bowls, fitness training and a sports college for
the department’s trainees. The training programme has been the
cornerstone of Arsenal in the Community from the very beginning and many
former trainees are still with Arsenal Football Club, dotted about the
place in different departments. Not a lot of people know that the
Arsenal Ladies began as a trainee scheme too.
The Sports Centre
soon reached capacity and outreach work began. School visits and soccer
schools became an integral part of the programme. Whilst Arsenal was
used to engaging young people through sport, the idea of motivating and
encouraging young people at school using Arsenal as the hook was soon
developed and as a result several education initiatives have been
introduced and developed.
In recent years, Arsenal in the
Community’s outreach work has taken place on estates and parks -
offering local young people the opportunity to play football with the
department and take advantage of the other education, social inclusion
and employment programmes we have to offer. Arsenal in the Community
has also been instrumental in upgrading local facilities, transforming
them into quality pitches that young people actually want to play on.
These
programmes embrace a wide variety of community involvement and they’re
delivered and received with the same energy and commitment today as when
they started 25 years ago.
The one thing that has changed since the
beginning, is the size and location of the ‘Arsenal Community.’ With the
globalisation of football Arsenal has passionate supporters of the Club
all over the world who want to get involved with the Club and play
football ‘the Arsenal way.’
For information, dates and times of all our Arsenal in the Community sessions and contacts, please click here.
25 Years of Arsenal in the Community
As part of
the celebrations, Arsenal Football Club has produced a booklet entitled,
‘Community Review’ which takes a look back on 25 years of dedicated
commitment and looks forward with pledges to supporters and the Arsenal
community.
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