By John Prince
With the 2026 football World Cup now in full swing, teenagers in Hornsea have been strapping their boots on and coming together for a social evening of sports and fun.
The Friday sessions held at the 3G pitch at Hornsea School and Language College have actually been going on for some time, and were established following outreach work where young people requested their own dedicated space.
Because of their success, the team behind them is looking to the future and introducing more things for young people to do in the town. They’re also looking for more adults to come and help out.
The Detached Youth Team run through Hornsea Town Council is a three-person team who give up their time to engage with younger people, and give them something positive to do rather than getting into trouble.
Along with the police, they walk the streets and speak with youths on Wednesday nights, and provide a listening ear and a friendly face so that teenagers can feel heard, included, and valued.
The free multi-sport sessions on Friday – nicknamed ‘Friday football’ – see girls and boys getting together in a supportive and safe environment. The evening gives them an opportunity to let off steam and socialise in a positive setting, rather than sitting at home or causing problems around town.
There have been some issues recently in Hornsea with antisocial behaviour involving youths, and this is one way of trying to reduce that.
Gav Nesbitt is one of the youth workers. He said the sessions are open to young people from year six to age 18. This age range helps ease the transition to secondary school, as younger children can make friends with older students.
“The old ones will play with the young ones, and once they’ve been here for quite a bit, they form a little buddy thing. It gives the younger ones a bit of confidence, and some of the older ones are now young sport leaders.
“It’s more than just football, though, with soft archery, races and other games. We have mini tournaments like penalty kicks. Some of the girls just want to come along and chill and chat. The kids know what they want to do when they come here. Maybe we’ll put on a Hornsea World Cup. See what happens.”
Along with co-worker Phil Wilson, Gav has set up a separate community interest company called Hornsea Youth CIC to complement existing youth services. The CIC aims to offer a wider range of activities beyond sports, focusing on educational and life-skills development.
Their objectives include CV building, life-skills training, and homework clubs providing a relaxed, informal atmosphere different from school.
Gav added: “We’ve got loads of stuff in town like HATS and dance clubs and the youth club, but not every youth wants to do the same thing. We want to do more educational things, so when they leave school, they’ve got everything in place.
“We are looking for appropriate premises, and we have somewhere in mind. We’re ready to go with insurance and safeguard training, so there are avenues we are looking at.”
Phil Wilson said the team needs to recruit volunteers, particularly parents as their children are the primary participants. It would ideally be six adults who can contribute once or twice every six weeks, to be present and ensure adequate supervision and additional eyes on safety.
He said: “It’s to have bodies up here so we’ve got the numbers right. Me and my team will run everything that we need to run. We want to make sure that the kids are safe, and that we’re safe running it.”
“The best-practice ratio is one adult per 10 children. It’s unsustainable up here at the minute because we just don’t have those numbers. We’ll pay for all the DBS checks and any training. We just need more eyes on things.”
Josh Muir who is the third member of the team said: “It’s a team effort to get everything done here. They’re all engaged in one way or another, so that’s pretty good. It can be hard sometimes to get everybody settled or whatnot, but we’re slowly teaching them.
“The kids being up here tonight means they’re less likely to be bored around the community and get up to mischief. These are good youths. They just sometimes make silly mistakes as we all did. I really love the work that we do here. I wish we had this when I was growing up.”
Josh Spires, 17, was one of the young people at Friday football. He said: “It’s fun. It’s something to enjoy. If you feel like it’s been a busy week at college or something, it just takes your mind off stuff and gives you a breather for a second.
“It keeps me fit with the football, and my mates love it. I get to see them. They all come up for a night out. It’s something to do for fun. I’d be sitting at home otherwise.”
To get involved with the Detached Youth Team, inquiries can be made through Hornsea Town Council.