CLYDEBANK’S popular midnight league is starting back next week to keep young people active on Friday nights.

The free 10-week sessions started in 2010 but have since expanded to all young people aged 12 to 21, both guys and girls, wanting to play footie.

There are about 100 who attend Clydebank High and 100 at Argyle Park in Alexandria each week between the 8pm and 10pm times, some just coming to watch their friends, play as teams or turn up as individual players looking for a shot at a seven-a-side match.

Since it started, 8,134 individual young people have taken part in the midnight league in West Dunbartonshire, something organisers say shows the part it’s played in youngsters’ lives.

Jo Meiklejohn, a youth outreach worker with Working4U who run the sessions for the council, said they have had up to 200 youngsters turn up in an evening.

He said: “I think it’s the beauty of the midnight league – it welcomes anyone and it’s a semi-professional feel. Parents see it as a good thing but it’s somewhere for young people to go on a Friday evening.

“It could just be an evening in front of the TV, but they can be playing with pals instead. I think it’s something they look forward to.

“I spoke to P7s and they’re all aware of midnight football. It’s a safe venue – even if you hate football.”

The midnight league is staffed by adults with a zero-alcohol policy, explained Jo, so as well as being good for the wider community, it also promotes healthy living with young people.

He said: “There’s the social side as they come to play with their friends or against them, hopefully having a laugh along the way.

“Yes, it’s about football but you don’t have to play to come along. You don’t need to have any skill whatsoever or have even kicked a ball before to come for it.”

“The midnight league is not about those who can play football and are already part of a youth team. It’s about those who aren’t good enough to play for a youth team who would still want a game of football, those who’d rather do something more constructive on a Friday evening that involves their friends, those who’d rather come along than spend the night indoors with Facebook or a games console, those who want to spend time with their friends.”

The first block of sessions starts on Friday, May 5 for 10 weeks until July 7.