Scoring for peace

More than 200 children from secondary schools around Sussex will be taking part in a football festival next week.

The University of Brighton’s Football 4 Peace (F4P) programme, which has operated in Israel, Palestine, Northern and Republic of Ireland, The Gambia, South Korea and South Africa since 2001, uses football to help resolve conflict between communities.

Last year children from around East and West Sussex and delegates from Ghana, South Africa, South Korea, Democratic Republic of Conga, Iran, Sudan, Czech Republic and Northern Ireland, took part in the F4P International Festival which is held at the University’s Falmer campus.

University Principal Lecturer in PE and co-founder of F4P, Dr Gary Stidder, said: “The primary task of the F4P training event is to provide an opportunity for teachers and coaches from socially divided communities to learn how to use the F4P methodology and curriculum and implement this within their own communities.”

Participants play matches, undergo training, and are motivated through verbal and physical actions including high fives, team handshakes, team cheering, group huddles, goal celebrations, team talks, and learning someone else’s physical greeting. The principles of the project are based on common values: equity and inclusion, respect, trust, responsibility and competition.

This year’s festival is on Thursday next, 20 September. For more information, go to: https://www.brighton.ac.uk/research-and-enterprise/groups/stl/research-projects/football-for-peace.aspx