Born into knife crime, Beckles wants to help
THE headlines this week have not made for easy reading for Omar Beckles.
The Shrewsbury defender has been preparing for Sunday’s EFL Trophy final against Lincoln at Wembley.
But his attention has been drawn to the latest flare-up in London’s gang wars, with the death toll this year already topping 50.
It has taken him back to his own childhood in Walthamstow, bringing old memories into sharp focus of when his brother, Aaron, was lucky to survive being stabbed.
“I was born into knife crime,” said Beckles, who was this week selected in the PFA’s League One team of the year. “My brother was stabbed in the lower back and they said it was only a few millimetres away from one of his arteries, so it could’ve been fatal.
“My brother’s best mate was stabbed nine times but he was OK too. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, just going to a party.
“My brother thought they were punching him and it was only when he stepped away and he saw holes in his jacket and his friend’s jacket he realised. We didn’t lose them but there’s the rage you have to deal with.
“Moments like that have shaped who I am today. You really have to appreciate life and not take it for granted, so I’m really embracing times like this because I could be gone tomorrow.”
Beckles was never heavily involved in trouble but he admitted football was his saviour.
“We had our own little clique – I wouldn’t call it a gang, but we were so affiliated because we were born in an area that was heavily gangrelated in Walthamstow,” he said.
“We tried our best to distance ourselves from that. Football paved the way for us to get out of it – my brother had trials with Southampton and Gillingham when he was younger.
“Aaron was a good footballer. He didn’t make it as a pro but football was a distraction which enabled us to distance ourselves because people in the gangs would say to us, ‘You’re prospects – you can’t be coming to this party’. They would appreciate those who were striving to do more for themselves.
“Some were sheltering us from it but there were others who wanted us to be a part of it and were not good influences at all.”
Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, below, has returned to his inner-city roots by helping youngsters in Peckham and, although he is not such a highprofile name, Beckles is determined to help kids out of trouble.
“I’m setting up my own foundation,” said Beckles, who paid tribute to coaches Danny and Trevor Bailey, who set up the Bailey Football Academy and a team, Interwood FC, in East London. “This is for the long term. Hearing there have been 50 people murdered in London this year makes me feel that public figures need to bridge that gap and help. “I’ve been fortunate – I have something of a platform and I’ve got to use it to my advantage. I’ve had people who have made me feel so fortunate – like Danny Bailey and Trevor Bailey.
“They allowed me to train even when I couldn’t pay the fees, because it meant I was in a safe environment. You don’t have that same sense of community nowadays. There’s too much of a gap between rich and poor.
“Kids soak everything up but now they’re being influenced by social media and the power has been stripped away from parents and teachers so they’re left to their own devices. Who do they look up to?
“Now more than ever they need to be in schools to make sure they’re doing things right.”