24Oct 2026
Sports
The stands should teach belonging, not rage
What a child learns on their first trip to the stadium says more about football's future than any scoreline.
Writes about sport beyond the scoreboard: local pitches, fan culture and the grassroots clubs that keep the game alive.
The scraps of land where children once played were never just football pitches. They were classrooms where a generation learned to live together.
What a child learns on their first trip to the stadium says more about football's future than any scoreline.