The charity, that supports the work of the Fire Service, will be running free Streetcage Sports across Knowsley during the week to build bridges with young people.

Streetcage offers professional football coaching, skills and tricks and takes place within walls, giving it an urban feel and allowing spectators to watch.

The idea is that this will be a more positive alternative than hanging around the streets and getting involved in anti-social fire related behaviour such as attacks on crews, arson and hoax calls.

It is being introduced as the fire services faces its busiest times for this type of behaviour – the run up to Bonfire Night. And it has some tough targets to try and reach – reducing anti-social behaviour in the area by 10%.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Mike Hagen said: “Young people pose us many challenges in the Fire Service – it’s a sad fact that they are responsible for most of our deliberate small fires, attacks on crews and hoax calls. We are tackling this with a range of activities for young people so that we can make a positive difference to their lives and build bridges with them for the future. We have run Streetcage Sports initiatives as one-off events and they have proved very popular, so we hope to make a real difference with this year-long scheme.”

The Fire Support Network is working with Knowsley Council’s Sports Development Team and The North West Fire and Rescue Service to set up five sites for the sessions that are all close to hot spot areas where fire-related anti-social behaviour occurs. These are Southdene Community Centre on Wednesdays; Northwood MUGA on Thursdays; Filton Road in Huyton on Thursdays; Tower Hill Community Centre on Fridays and Long View Lane King George 5th Community Centre in Huyton on Fridays. All the sessions run from 6pm to 9pm and no prior-booking is required.

The initiative has been trialled in recent weeks and already more than 500 young people have been involved aged 8-17.

The initiative has been made possible for 12 months through Government funds from an Invest to Save bid.

Community organisations and groups across The North West can book the Streetcage Sports facility. For further info call 0151 296 4600 or email suehannigan@merseyfire.gov.uk.