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Everton in the Community

I was talking to a guy who came into my workplace and he was telling me that a number of years ago he was a teacher at West Ham Utd. Apparently the idea was that a number of troubled kids were actually taught at the club.

On occasion a first team player might drop in to offer encouragement. It seems that the scheme was quite successful although I'm unsure if it still continues. Does anyone know if Everton operate such a scheme and do you believe it is a good idea?

A couple of mates take the view that is rewarding bad behaviour. However to me it seems worth a try. What do you think?

Andy Crooks, Belfast Posted 17/10/2012 at 14:20:09

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Simon Lloyd
871 Posted 17/10/2012 at 14:53:33

Andy, there is the Free School which provides education for pupils with "challenging personal circumstances" (the School's words). I don't believe the Club's premises are used but access to Everton staff, including players, is part of the link with the Club.

I'm not going to comment on whether I believe the Free School is a good idea. I think there has already been a relatively heated thread on that topic?

Brian Hill
881 Posted 17/10/2012 at 16:38:27

What is the definition of a "troubled kid" and how does a footballer offer such a person "encouragement"? Are footballers experts on the subject of "troubled kids"?

Mike Allison
883 Posted 17/10/2012 at 16:55:21

Brian "troubled kid" is a vague phrase used in an internet post. Rest assured, there are plenty of official definitions ranging from being from a family on benefits, living in a 'deprived' area (there are statistical definitions), having a history of police incidents or reported abuse in a family, being in a certain number of behavioural incidents at school...etc. The list is endless.

A footballer offers them encouragement by making them feel special, that they matter and that someone cares about them, even a famous, rich footballer off the telly, when much of their life may have given them the opposite impression.

Its not an exact science, and it may well ultimately be rewarding bad behaviour, but not in a way that would make anyone want to swap positions with a kid whose life may a combination of desperate circumstances way beyond their own control.

Andy Crooks
884 Posted 17/10/2012 at 17:46:19

Thanks, Mike, you've put what I meant exactly.

Eugene Ruane
885 Posted 17/10/2012 at 18:09:08

Terry Darracott, Tiger McLaughlin, Bernie Wright - I was a troubled kid BECAUSE Everton were in the community.

Ray Roche
886 Posted 17/10/2012 at 18:27:21

And now you're a troubled man..........;-)

Eugene Ruane
890 Posted 17/10/2012 at 18:45:53

True Ray (and I will remain be a troubled man until a certain lying shit-house soap actor and CEO fucks off).

Brian Hill
894 Posted 17/10/2012 at 19:24:14

Thanks Mike, but I am not much clearer. I cannot understand how any child, whether on benefits or having a police incident background or whatever, could possibly have his or her life improved by a fleeting and meaningless meeting with a footballer. Such a meeting would ultimately be worthless almost by definition, as that footballer would have no further input into the child's life, whatever self-esteem claptrap he spouted. Forgive me if I am missing something here, but I see no value in the original premise.

Mike Allison
896 Posted 17/10/2012 at 19:55:34

Yeah Brian it wouldn't work in isolation, more as a cherry on the top of an awful lot of long term hard work by dedicated and unsung people on trying to instil some self-esteem into the kid.

The player themselves wouldn't have to do much, just act like the kid mattered in his life for 20 mins or an hour or whatever. Psychologists could probably explain a lot better, but the idea that someone famous (or more accurately 'significant') looks you in the eye and you are significant to them, however briefly, can have a lasting impression, especially on those who see themselves as insignificant. Its what good politicians are (or used to be) good at. Apparently its what Princess Diana was good at too.

Ian Bennett
897 Posted 17/10/2012 at 19:55:28

Brian, with respect I think you are going down the well worn road that footballers are useless. Most are from a working class background and have worked hard at something and have made a success of their lives. If that inspires kids to work at something, when they / others have failed then of course it's worth worthwhile.

Dave Roberts
928 Posted 18/10/2012 at 09:51:08

Never mind whether or not Everton do (or should do) it. Do Chelsea do it?

Imagine John Terry and Ashley Cole mentoring troubled kids! Troubled kids are not usually stupid. On the contrary they are usually very streetwise and have a very high level of albeit corrupted independence. They have often dragged themselves through childhood in the absence of good enough parenting and gain their role models from elsewhere. Role modelling footballers is not necessarily a good idea as no matter how much they may be 'worshipped' even troubled kids will see them for what a lot of them are. Overpaid prima-donnas who experience a lifestyle that these kids could never aspire to for actually not working all that hard, certainly not hard enough to warrant thousands of pounds a week! Sums of money that these kids could only attain through crime unless they won the lottery.

There are not many Bobby Moores about these days and when Alan Sugar said a few years ago after his stint at Spurs that most of the players he knew should be in jail and probably would be if they weren't footballers, it was not entirely tongue in cheek.

If you had a troubled kid would you want him or her to be in any way influenced by Stevie GBH? No thanks, it needs more care than that.

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