What we lose when the neighbourhood pitch disappears

In the neighbourhood where I grew up, there was a patch of bare earth between two blocks of flats. The goalposts were two stones and the touchline was a neighbour's garden wall. We played there until it got dark: arguing, making up, then playing again. Last month I walked down that street. The patch of earth is now a car park.

My story is hardly unique. In recent years countless empty lots, small pitches and school playgrounds have either been built over or locked behind gates. On paper they are just a few hundred square metres each. For a neighbourhood, the loss is far greater.

Lessons learned on the pitch

The local pitch is the first place where children learn, without any adult refereeing, how to make rules, argue and compromise. Everyone knows the game is boring if the teams are lopsided. Everyone knows that if the little ones are left out, there will be no players tomorrow. These pitches are classrooms for a social education no textbook contains.

Talent is born in every neighbourhood. It only grows in the ones with somewhere to play.

Look at the youth systems of professional clubs today. Many successful athletes began not in a fee-paying academy but on a scrappy street pitch like mine. Paid sports schools do valuable work. But in a society where not every family can afford monthly fees, free and accessible places to play may be talent's only open door.

And this is not only about lost talent. A childhood with less movement, less time outdoors and fewer chances to be face to face with friends carries a long-term cost in both health and social life. Screens try to fill the space left by vanished pitches, but they cannot offer the same thing.

The remedies are not as difficult as they seem. School grounds can be opened to local families at weekends and during holidays. Councils can turn unused plots into temporary play spaces. New housing developments can be required to include shared areas for games. None of this comes with the glossy opening ceremony of a new stadium, but it reaches far more children.

When we talk about sport, we talk about big matches, transfers and trophies. Yet sport's real story is written on those patches of earth where two stones make a goal. Every time we lose one, we lose not only future players, but a little of a society that knows how to play together.