Dr Mark Prince launches Champions' Club on Kiyan Prince anniversary

Dr Mark Prince launched the Champions' Club campaign on the 20th anniversary of Kiyan Prince's death and said youth club closures are a scandal. He said the effort is aimed at giving young people more support at a time when he believes too much money is going into punishment instead of help.

Prince said, "Youth clubs play a huge role in building a winning mentality for young people but the number of them has declined rapidly in the past 15 years and that's a scandal," and added that the campaign is calling for more investment into youth services. The foundation also wants youth workers put on the same level as teachers.

Kiyan Prince Foundation

The Kiyan Prince Foundation said Champions' Club is designed to sit down with young people, find out what's going on, get to the heart of the matter and support them. Prince said the campaign also aims to create a space carrying Kiyan's name that helps young people feel like winners again.

He tied that push to his son's story. Kiyan Prince was a 15-year-old footballer for Queens Park Rangers' youth team when he was stabbed to death outside his school in May 2006 after intervening in a mock fight outside the London Academy in Edgware, north-west London.

Mark Prince and Eddie Nestor

In an interview with Radio London's Eddie Nestor, Prince challenged the way schools respond to struggling pupils. He asked, "How are pupil referral units at schools different than the prison system?" and said, "You have a child that isn't abiding by the rules, so you put him in isolation."

He said, "You have a prisoner who's not doing right in the prison, so what do you do? Put him in isolation," and added, "[Whether it's] isolation or detention, you're wasting your time. You're better off building a relationship with that child." He also said, "Too much money is being spent on punishment instead of helping those who are hurting."

The government said it was fighting to stop dangerous knives destroying young lives. Prince's campaign puts the next step on services that meet young people earlier, with his foundation pressing for more support and a named space of its own rather than another round of punishment-led responses.