Giving children a sporting chance

A camera pans slowly across the crowd of spectators early one winter’s morning. As parents smile, indulgently cheering every passage of play, very young footballers of no more than six years of age strive their hardest. The children fumble, they trip, stumble and often miss the ball completely. An avuncular voice-over extols these halcyon days of blossoming friendships and burgeoning attitudes, asserting that such experiences will forge lifelong memories for those most actively involved … and for the children too.