South London teenagers kick-start football pitch campaign

Young activists from South London are to launch a campaign to revamp a football pitch on Brixton’s Angell Town estate. Brixton resident Timon Dixon will lead the campaign along with friends Malik Samba, Daryl Johnson, Derrick Johnson, Mark Murray and Nicholas Willoughby. Their efforts have been backed by the charity Football Beyond Borders who successfully crowdfunded more than £7,000 for FBB TV, a new youth-led Youtube channel.

The group, who are all Young Leaders of the charity, visited the Surrey Lane estate in Battersea to get inspiration for their campaign. They met up with Rene, 19, one of the leaders of a youth group that successfully lobbied Wandsworth Council to invest £30,000 in football facilities on the estate.

“What they have done at the Surrey Lane estate is great”, said Timon (pictured in the middle of this photo with two friends). “I saw the pictures of the pitch before they renovated it. It wasn’t up to standard and looked dangerous. Now they have a 3G pitch with goals and basketball hoops. What I’ve learnt from this is that we need to get people from the local area on board with our campaign”.

Over the next few weeks Brixton Blog will feature a series of FBB TV stories from young reporters and guest bloggers from Football Beyond Borders. You can view their latest report below and follow their progress on FBB TV.