Social exclusion is recognised as one of the most important issues facing Britain today. The fact that the new government set up a Social Exclusion Unit in its first year of office is testimony enough to the seriousness of the problem. However, although there have been many successful initiatives to combat social exclusion, we believe that the ground-breaking role of sport has been somewhat overlooked.
 
In short, sport can reach out to all sections of the community in a positive and participative way. By doing so, and by adopting a multi-agency approach, it can also then serve as the basis for offering new choices to disaffected young people and - more importantly - in supporting them in their pursuit of a new, more fulfiling goal in life.