Football project in Dundee city centre aims to cut anti-social behaviour with pop-up pitch

City centres can often be hotspots for youngsters involved in anti-social behaviour.

But a project in Dundee is looking to tackle that through the medium of football.

A pop-up pitch has been set up in City Square on Friday nights, which police say has helped drastically reduce the number of call outs they receive.

“Young people are drawn to the bright lights, they want to be in among all the adult things,” said Justin Mulholland, from the Change Centre, which organises the weekly sessions.

“It’s great we’ve got this opportunity to come in. The city square is just the perfect arena. It can almost be a city centre stadia.

“We get the opportunity for the guys to come in and play football.”

Last year, a series of weekly Friday night football matches were set up in Dundee city centre in a bid to tackle anti-social behaviour among youngsters.

Now in its second year, the programme sees dozens of children and young adults take part each week.

“Anti-social behaviour incidents exist everywhere,” said sergeant Daniel Forbes.

“[They are] particularly prominent in the city centre setting.

“But since we have had these additional activities in place, and a lot of input by partners, high-visibility patrols by us, we have seen a notable reduction in the issues reported to us.”

The project, which is funded by a UK Government grant, will have its final session of the year next month.

But organisers are confident they’ll secure more funding to return next year and make Friday night football a fixture of city centre life.