Chris Dickson
Striker, Charlton Athletic Football Club
I was lucky enough to grow up in this local area and I’ve seen a lot of the street violence around the community and it doesn’t seem like there’s been a lot done about it which is why we are launching this project. I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that we just need to talk to the kids. There are 12 and 13-year-olds on the roads at the moment with nothing to do and we need to talk to them and advise them to go in the right direction in life and show them that there are opportunities.
We have been given many opportunities in this country to do things whether it be music, sport, law, there’s so many avenues we can go down we just need to encourage kids to go down those avenues.
I’ve got a junior brother myself and to pull him out of the whole street violence thing wasn’t necessarily easy because he’s got a lot of friends that are drawn to gangs or to different avenues in life and you don’t really know what to say to them. I used to continually pull him to one side and say you don’t need to do this, you don’t need to go into this way of life. I’ve come into the football industry very late and I guess I’m seen as a role model to say that as long as you persevere you can make it. Sometimes all it takes is an arm around your shoulder and a bit of advice to put them into the right avenue and they can go from there.
I come from the local area, Charlton is my local team and it’s a humongous effort to get us in and around the community to advise young kids. They look at all of us and see us as role models and to get involved in this scheme is amazing and we have to make sure that we put across the right message to all children.
It’s hard to know what to say to these kids. I personally would look at the youth of today and tell them that I am a token gesture. I didn’t make it until I was 22 but I just kept on going. Sometime you don’t actually make it but that’s better than ending up in jail or possibly dead and at the end of the day there’s no reason for us to be running around carrying knives and guns. For what? Protection? Not really because at the end of the day all you’re doing is causing yourself bodily harm because if you’ve got one then someone else will have one and then you end up in one of two places – dead or in jail.
We have been given many opportunities in this country to do things whether it be music, sport, law, there’s so many avenues we can go down we just need to encourage kids to go down those avenues.
I’ve got a junior brother myself and to pull him out of the whole street violence thing wasn’t necessarily easy because he’s got a lot of friends that are drawn to gangs or to different avenues in life and you don’t really know what to say to them. I used to continually pull him to one side and say you don’t need to do this, you don’t need to go into this way of life. I’ve come into the football industry very late and I guess I’m seen as a role model to say that as long as you persevere you can make it. Sometimes all it takes is an arm around your shoulder and a bit of advice to put them into the right avenue and they can go from there.
I come from the local area, Charlton is my local team and it’s a humongous effort to get us in and around the community to advise young kids. They look at all of us and see us as role models and to get involved in this scheme is amazing and we have to make sure that we put across the right message to all children.
It’s hard to know what to say to these kids. I personally would look at the youth of today and tell them that I am a token gesture. I didn’t make it until I was 22 but I just kept on going. Sometime you don’t actually make it but that’s better than ending up in jail or possibly dead and at the end of the day there’s no reason for us to be running around carrying knives and guns. For what? Protection? Not really because at the end of the day all you’re doing is causing yourself bodily harm because if you’ve got one then someone else will have one and then you end up in one of two places – dead or in jail.
