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Anger : Karen Buck |
FOOTBALLERS PITCHED OUT
Snub to young players to be raised with sports minister
THE firm contracted to run leisure facilities in Westminster has been accused of favouring fee-paying teams on its sports pitches over local youths.
Cannons Group Ltd is under fire after hundreds of teenagers were barred from using the main pitch in Paddington Rec on Saturday.
The Unity in the Community football tournament had been double-booked with the Hampstead Hockey Club.
Yet it was 400 Westminster teenage hopefuls, not the fee-paying hockey club, who were told to stand aside.
The popular quarterly football event has been hit before and MP Karen Buck believes it was more than a coincidence.
The Labour member for Regent’s Park and Kensington North said: “This is the second time this has happened this year. I was in tears of anger. I am going to speak to the sports minister about this. It is top of my agenda.”
She added: “The Cannon’s contract has not been operating in the interests of local people and it is time Westminster got a grip of it.”
Describing the angry scenes as the popular tournament was thrown into disarray, Ms Buck said: “The Westminster Sports Unit book the pitch for this event one year in advance. It is Cannons that messed up. What they should have done was told Hampstead Hockey Club to go. But they didn’t because in Westminster making money is more important than the needs of local kids.”
Councillor Barrie Taylor, who set up the tournament which drew 800 teenagers from north Westminster in the summer, said: “It can’t be emphasised enough how important it is to the youth engaged in Unity in the Community that they are seen to be important to those in charge.”
A Cannons’ spokesman said the firm had apologised to organisers for the “administrative error”.
Councillor Daniel Astaire, Westminster’s lead member for community events, said: “Despite Cannons making an unfortunate mistake in the bookings for the pitches at the Paddington Recreation Ground, last weekend’s Unity in the Community event, organised by Westminster Sports Unit, was a huge success. The mistake was a glitch and the council has taken up the issue with Cannons to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” |
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