Unity

Welcome to the Unity webpage, currently hosted by Connexions Nottinghamshire

The Unity Football Project is part of Catch22, a national charity with local reach. Catch22 work in over 150 towns and cities, with tens of thousands of young people every year – supporting young people with tough lives.

The Unity project was kick-started by Morris Samuels back in November 2005 as a positive response to some of the gang-related violence that was prevalent at the time.

Morris wanted to make a difference and bring young people from key areas together to reduce tension within communities. For Morris, who has worked with some of his team for more than five years, it’s about changing the way we think about and act towards young people.

“Things are much tougher for young people than they used to be – there are so many negatives like violence, drugs and crime. The Unity project is about giving out positives – young people united against guns and gang crime.”

The project uses football as a way to engage and bring together young people from different inner city areas of Nottingham and aims to:

Encourage young people to play sport together to breakdown geographical and ethnic barriers.
Provide activities that support young people to increase their aspirations and educational attainment.
Encourage young people, particularly those in black and minority ethnic communities to engage in volunteering within their communities.
Tackle anti-social behaviour and reduce crime.

The Power of Sport Award

In 2009, Unity won the Power of Sport Award, at the BBC East Midlands Sports Awards on 3 December.
Read a report on the Power of Sport Award

Unity Project Facts

Unity is a squad of 22 young people from different areas of the city: Radford, Broxtowe, Bestwood, the Meadows and St Ann’s.
It played its first match against an IX from Ilkeston Town on 23 November 2005. Back then Morris, the team’s coach and mentor, had to beg and borrow kit, footballs and a pitch to practice on.
Since then Unity has played against teams from across Nottingham including the police and a team from Nottingham Forest.
Their skill and commitment – to both the game of football and to the cause of ending gang violence in Nottingham – has attracted attention from people both locally and further afield.
The project is funded by Comic Relief, The Home Office and Connexions Nottinghamshire.
The Unity project now helps out over 100 young people from inner city Nottingham per year.
The aims of the Unity Project are to:

Encourage young people to play sport together and breakdown city geographical and ethnic barriers
Provide activities that support young people to increase their aspirations and educational attainment
Tackle anti-social behaviour and reduce crime in those communities
Encourage young people, particularly those from BME communities to volunteer in their communities.