Tottenham Hotspur Foundation hosted an Under-12s football tournament today at Hotspur Way in memory of local teenager Godwin Lawson, a promising young footballer who tragically lost his life to knife crime in 2010.
Following his death, Godwin’s mother Yvonne established the Godwin Lawson Foundation to commemorate the life of her son and educate young people about the consequences of knife crime.
For the past 12 years, our Foundation has worked in partnership with the Godwin Lawson Foundation to convey anti-knife crime messages using the power of football, Godwin’s passion, with young people from across London taking part in the annual tournament.
For the first time, the tournament was hosted at our training centre in Enfield, where Godwin was from, and saw over 160 children representing 18 clubs take part in the seven-a-side event which was also attended by our left-back Destiny Udogie.
Our Italian Under-21 International was able to offer advice and words of encouragement, taking part in the team talks with the players before their games, as well as being on hand for photos and autographs with the young players.
As part of the day, the young players also took part in a workshop with the Met Police to discuss ways to reduce youth violence and how to make the local area safer.
Speaking at the tournament, Destiny said: “For me personally, this is the first time since joining the Club that I have been able to go out and meet young people from the community which means a lot to me. It’s important we educate young people about the dangers of knife crime and provide a safe space to play sport.”
Yvonne Lawson added: “Today has been very humbling. To be able to have today’s tournament in Godwin’s name is extremely comforting. To know that young people from all walks of life are here today at Tottenham Hotspur to learn about the consequences of knife crime and hopefully make the right decisions on how to keep safe, is incredible. Thank you to Spurs again for their invaluable support.”
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