00:00On the pitch, Middlesbrough are having a successful campaign in the championship, sat just outside
00:08of the play-off places, and only seven points from those in the automatic promotion spots
00:12at the top of the table.
00:16Of it, they recently launched a campaign looking to help tackle knife crime in the area, with
00:21the help of a locally based charity, the Chris K Foundation.
00:24But why is this such an important issue for the population in this area, especially younger
00:29people?
00:33According to a recent study by the Office for National Statistics, outside of London
00:38and the West Midlands, the Cleveland area is the worst in the country for knife crime,
00:42with the club providing further details on the pressing matter.
00:47Theresa Cave of the Chris Cave Foundation explained more, including why she set up the
00:52charity.
00:53I work with the Chris Cave Foundation, I founded it in 2003, when my son was murdered, he was
00:59stabbed to death in a totally unprovoked knife attack in Redcar, and we just wanted
01:03to make something good come out of something so bad.
01:06I won't say a dream come true, but it is for knife crime a dream come true, because it's
01:09something that's going to be so big, and it's going to show the whole country that the borough
01:15are standing up and doing something so positively, in a way that it hasn't been done before.
01:23The club approached me and asked me to get involved in the new campaign, I didn't know
01:26anything about it, we went to a meeting, and I was just blown away by it, I had to
01:30get involved, you know, and I went home and told Tom about it, and Tom was over the moon,
01:35the team were over the moon, so it's a win-win sit, it's a win-win.
01:38At the launch, borough player Hayden Hackney spoke about the club's one-off white shirt.
01:43I really like it, it's all white, I think it's like the home kit, but it's all white,
01:47so I do really like it.
01:49We advise people not to wear red on Saturday, to raise as much awareness as we can, so hopefully
01:56we can do that.
01:57Like you say, me and Dale were here today, and it means a lot to us because we are from
02:02this area, so hopefully we can change that.
02:05Given his local heritage, Hackney made clear his pride at representing Middlesbrough.
02:10Yeah, it's a dream, I always say it's a dream, but it is, and that's what I grew up wishing
02:16I could do, and now I'm doing it, so it's great.
02:20Hackney's presence at the launch was hugely welcomed by Theresa Cave.
02:24It is, it's absolutely amazing.
02:26You can't get better, can you?
02:28You can't get a better campaign than this, and I know it's not a competition, having
02:32campaigns, but you can't do anything, you can't get a better campaign, and like I say,
02:36if the whole country clicks onto this, and they all follow suit, and everyone does a
02:40little bit, then maybe the whole of the country's knife crime pandemic will come down.
02:45It should spread so far because young people need to know how precious they are, and they
02:49need to know that they're our future generation, and we need them here to be our future generation,
02:54and if there's a different avenue to go down, go down that avenue.
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