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News

Prince William visits a football project for children in Newcastle

17th October 2007

Prince William showed off his footballing skills today during a kick about with youngsters on his visit to a sports development project in Newcastle.

The Prince, who is President of The Football Association (FA), spent the morning at The FA's Hat-Trick project in Newcastle, a scheme which provides a range of football opportunities for seven to 16-year-olds in disadvantaged communities.

William donned a white top and blue tracksuit bottoms as he took to the pitch with college students at the West Gate Community College Centre for Sports.

Beforehand, William took part in a classroom discussion on fair play with local primary school children and youngsters from the Centrepoint charity who have gained their Level 1 coaching qualification with funding from The FA and BBC Sport Relief.

Prince William is Patron of Centrepoint, the UK’s leading charity for homeless young people, and participated in the Sport Relief mile in 2004 and 2006.

Nine-year-old Naseem Haque met William, who is an Aston Villa supporter, during the class.

Naseem said: "He was really, really nice and not as formal as I expected. He's really fun when he's talking to you but I don't know why he supports Aston Villa.

"I wanted to persuade him to support Newcastle United."

Steven Taylor, the Newcastle United defender and Captain of England's Under 21s football team, joined William in the classroom.

He said: "It's amazing. It's an honour to be here. The kids' faces lit up when he walked through the door.

"I'll be kicking a ball about with him. I'll treat him like any other player. I've heard lots of things about his playing so I'm not going to underestimate him."

The Prince, who is second in line to the throne, wearing one red sock for Sports Relief and one Eton sock, was kept on his toes during a warm-up session with 16 to 18-year-olds from the West Gate Community College Football Academy.

Prince William took part in a five-a-side junior tournament, in which different primary school teams represented the countries competing in last month's Women's World Cup.

Playing for the "China" team from Our Lady and St Anne's school, he joined in a group huddle with his 9 and 10-year-old team-mates and shared "high fives" with the goal scorers.

William then presented the Fair Play award for the most sporting team, China, to team captain Patrick Clark.

Patrick, nine, said afterwards: "He was very nice. He said I was like a mini-Wayne Rooney when I scored."

Jermaine Goode, 21, a newly-trained coach from the homelessness charity Centrepoint, came up from London for the occasion and refereed Prince William's match.

He said: "I was very nervous. You don't get to ref a prince at every game. The children loved him - they were all jumping up at him and you could tell they had a blast.

"He's down to earth and he's one in a mill. There aren't many in his position that would do something like that."

He added: "We chatted about football and the young ones. He said at one point he thought one of them ran under his legs and out the other side, they were so fast."

Co-ordinated by the FA and funded by UEFA and the Government's New Deal for Communities scheme, the Hat-Trick project has been set up in 19 communities across the country since it was launched in 2005.

Chief Executive of The FA Brian Barwick, who attended today's event, said: "We are delighted that Prince William has taken such an interest in the fantastic development work that is going on around the country at grassroots level and his visit has given everyone connected to the Newcastle Hat-Trick project a massive lift."

Anthony Lawton, Chief Executive of Centrepoint, said he was "delighted" with William's visit.

"In his role as Patron of Centrepoint, this visit gives Prince William a chance to see our dynamic work with young homeless people, and to meet some of the staff and young people. We are particularly pleased that this gives us an opportunity to highlight our services in the North East."

This afternoon William will travel to Scotland to visit one of the world's most advanced warships, HMS Daring, at the Scotstoun shipyard on the River Clyde in Glasgow.

He will meet Royal Navy crew members and see demonstrations of equipment on the ship, which was launched on 1st February 2006 by the Countess of Wessex.

He will also visit BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions and will continue tomorrow with a visit to HM Naval Base Clyde.