BASE BRIXTON- Afewee - youth sports academy meet Man UtD stars for sports activation at Pop Brixton

Mid August saw Base Brixton take up residency at Pop with a “Control v’s Chaos” football challenge. Our event space hosted a pop-up football pitch with a state-of-the-art interactive experience fusing football, technology and skill in the car park. The event was designed to bring the local football community into Pop shining the light on Lambeth’s future sports stars. We worked closely with Young Lambeth Co-op reserving the experience for local groups and clubs daily with local teams getting priority entry to the competition The event saw 128 players compete in a 2 x 2 knockout tournament with the winners progressing on to a global final in Marseille. Rinsola Babajide and Chinedu Ubakanama from Brixton Rec based Afewee breezed through the first round, with St.Mathews Project’s Calvin Williams and Louis Lawrence narrowly defeated by Kobina Bowte and Hassan Jalloh. Friday night saw guest appearances from Arsenal’s Theo Walcott and Kieran Gibbs with Manchester United’s Ander Herrera, Juan Mata, Daley Blind and Ashley Young visiting on Monday to sign autographs and take photos with local players. Base Brixton was a partnership between adidas, Pop Brixton and Lambeth Council. A contribution of £2000 was paid to the to cover the partial closure of the car park and £13,000 has been donated to fund Reprezent Radio’s studio move to Pop Brixton. Reprezent is a social enterprise broadcasting from South London since 2011. The only station in the UK presented by young people under the age of 25, their DJ’s and presenters not only work in the music industry but tackle issues affecting young people head on. We expect them to work with 100’s of people across Lambeth for the duration of their stay. There was also a “nominate the difference campaign” - a development grant to be awarded to someone excelling in their field, a coach, driver, groundskeeper or just someone who’s really going the extra mile with tomorrow’s sporting talent. 4 people have been nominated with the winner yet to be decided. £10,000 will also be allocated to Lambeth schools when they return in September to purchase football equipment. Pop built relationships with local teams and heard inspiring stories of exceptional community members pushing all things football forward in Lambeth. We’re already in talks in how we can support Brixton’s Afewee initiatives and help them further shine the spotlight on local sports talent. Afewee Urban Football Club are a football and boxing training group based in Brixton Recreation Centre. Their players are being closely watched by teams like Arsenal and Chelsea. One of their female players is already on a scholarship to Millwall FC at 16 years of age! All in all it was a busy and high-energy few days which has helped bring new members of the local community into our project and get all of us thinking outside the box.