Sport must step up and be part of the social revolution to reach ‘lost boys’ | Gareth Southgate

Amid all the pressing problems of the day, one crisis has cut through: the acute need for greater support, care and steady role models for young men, addressed powerfully through the Netflix series Adolescence, explored in the Centre for Social Justice paper Lost Boys and discussed in parliament. Then came the BBC Richard Dimbleby lecture by the former England manager Sir Gareth Southgate, reinforcing the importance of belief and resilience for young people in a challenging world.

Southgate continues to embody how sport and society can connect in a new way. The question now is whether the rest of sport – its leaders, coaches, athletes, volunteers and fans – stands ready to take up the cause and whether sport has the collective vision, will and competence to do so effectively.

Southgate, Keir Starmer and the CSJ report all called for role models to offer a different path from the populist influencers spouting a vision of masculinity riven with ego, misogyny and intolerance. Sport should be an obvious place to find better role models. Coaches have a formative impact on young people. Athletes are admired and considered “cool” in a way that parents, teachers and other adults are not.

It is time for sport to prove its relevance beyond entertainment and activity for a part of the population. But changes are needed for sport to help resolve this social crisis. Crucially, leaders need to understand the answer is not just more sport. It is a different quality of sport and physical activity.

First, national governing bodies, clubs and schools must put purpose at the heart of their organisations. Chasing increasing numbers of medals and members does not equal success for sport. Human experiences of connection and stories of unlocked potential are the real results that matter. Listening carefully to young men who turn up to football training is not a “nice to have” if there is time left after the drills. It is the most important thing about that training session. That can’t depend on whim or personality, it must be the driving raison d’être for sport embedded across the sporting ecosystem.

Second, a national mapping exercise is required to ensure that no boys – or girls – are lost to sport and physical activity. Perhaps Southgate could convene leaders across sport’s fragmented landscape to map current provisions, work out where the 4 million children in poverty live and how to reach the “lost boys”. There is a need not for more funding but persistent connection across silos and sectors to reach every young person. Inspirational work goes on across the “sport for development sector”. Most sports have a charitable arm, boxing clubs have led the way in providing a means of dealing with youth aggression for a century. But there are stubborn gaps that require greater collaboration and pooling of existing resources.

Third – arguably the biggest challenge for sport, typically run by those for whom the current setup works well – sports need to innovate, adapt and provide what participants want and need in our fast-changing, hyper-digital world. The answer is not only more sport, the ambition must be a better experience of sport and physical activity for all.

This will require a faster, more deliberate revolution in what it means to be a sports coach. Coaching is not just about sport, it is about the people who play sport. Yet the majority of coaches are still trained and recruited for technical and tactical competence. A fresh vision and national ambition is needed to create a new cadre of coaches with the skills of a youth worker, community connections beyond sport, and competence in mental as well as physical skills. A shuffle of existing training badges and curriculums will not suffice to develop empathetic figures whose first priority is always the players, not the scoreline – understanding that this optimises results anyway. It’s about looking out for those “teachable moments” when a player overreacts, struggles or worries, providing opportunities to guide deeper learning.

We know the crucial role mentors can play. Can we sign up to a national ambition that every child who needs one has one? Don Barrell, the chief executive of the social mobility charity Greenhouse Sports, responded to Southgate’s lecture by reminding us of the transformational impact of its full-time coach‑mentors. Embedded into schools in the UK’s most deprived areas, they “show boys that their worth is defined not by bravado or bravura, but by character, discipline, and contribution to something bigger than themselves … they don’t just coach sport: they coach life … they help them believe, often for the first time, that their lives matter, that their futures are worth building”.

Can we learn on a greater scale from the work of the True Athlete Project (Tap) whose mission is to create a more compassionate world through sport? Its work with elite athletes and community sports clubs is grounded in mindfulness. Before starting any training session, match or activity, everyone takes a moment to connect with how they are showing up, what they bring with them, good or bad in that moment, and notice their impact on themselves and each other, coaches alongside players. Already in discussion to create a cadre of skilful “Tap practitioners” with national sports federations, its work demonstrates the transformation that comes from meeting players, athletes and young people where they are, a subtle but significant shift from the old mantras of “leave your worries at the door”.

Of course, there are coaches, teachers, mentors and volunteers out there already doing this. Those who turn up in unglamorous, challenging settings, motivated to give back to their sport, their community, the next generation. They may not always have the fanciest kit, an elite medal-winning career or know the latest set-piece tactics – but they hold something much more magical and vital. Treasure them, nurture them, appreciate them – and hold them up as the beating heartbeat of sport playing its full role in our communities.

Sport has a part to play and now is the time to step up. The “lost boys” issue presents sports leaders with a moment to show they want to join the bigger game and sign up to the ambition that no child can be lost again.