MY 15-year-old son and his friends play district football, representing our town, Redditch.

To be picked to play at district level is regarded as somewhat of an honour, even among tough 15-year-old lads who pretend not to be all that bothered.

They are a very talented bunch that turn up in all weathers, even though they never get to train or even meet as a team outside game times because of a lack of resources.

A few weeks ago, they played in the semi-final of the cup, only to be knocked out on penalties after a long-fought battle against Coventry City.

The Coventry lads arrived by coach, fully kitted out in matching training suits and full kit. They had at least two professional looking trainers and came armed with half of Coventry to cheer them on.

In comparison, our lads had a hand-me-down miss-match of left-over school kit (apparently there is only one kit to be shared among all Redditch district teams, again due to lack of resources).

While the Coventry lads took the opportunity to get in a last-minute training session and warm up with their coaches, ours put up the goal nets and corner flags ready for the game.

We hear so much of what lads of this age are doing wrong within the community but while Redditch is lacking the facilities that other districts' young people can take for granted, maybe the finger should be at least partly be directed at the complete lack of resources in all areas of young entertainment and sports facilities.

I was born in Redditch and have always lived here. There are now fewer facilities on offer for teenagers than when I was growing up in the 1970s - we at least had a cinema. The town has grown enormously in this time yet there are fewer facilities.

Every week there are reports in the paper about gangs of youths roaming the streets terrorising the neighbourhood and while I would never condone their bad behaviour, until Redditch gets its act together and invests in our youth, the situation can only get worse.

All decent people will leave to live in districts where they feel more valued and get more for their money, leaving Redditch to become a ghetto of people who have given up caring.

Who knows, maybe if we invested more on entertaining and supporting our youth, we wouldn't need to spend quite so much policing them.

Mrs AC Harrison

Cranham Close

Headless Cross