Fairplay To Help Excluded Youngsters

Fairplay, a rugby programme for young people excluded from mainstream education, has revealed results from a recent research project – suggesting that a vast majority of parents believe that playing a competitive sport such as rugby, would greatly improve their teenager’s behavior and even their academic performance.

The results stated that four out of five parents believed that taking part in competitive sport would develop their teenager’s academic ability, and three quarters agreed that it would also improve their child’s classroom behavior.

Fairplay operates across England, and is run as a partnership between Wooden Spoon, Barclays Spaces for Sports, the Rugby Football Union and the Enterprise Education Trust.

The project combines rugby training with classroom-based learning – in life, enterprise and financial skills.

Fairplay believe that rugby can teach core values such as discipline, respect, teamwork, enjoyment and sportsmanship, all of which can be transferred to life-skills away from the rugby field.

England World Cup winner Justin Leonard OBE, the lead ambassador for Wooden Spoon, said: ‘We are seeing from programmes like FairPlay that rugby helps young people improve their confidence, self-esteem and attitude, while the discipline of the sport can help them secure qualifications and find employment’.

Fairplay hope to work up to 120 projects, working with youngsters in Pupil Referral Units across the country.