Youngsters on a Southampton housing estate have shown the red card to antisocial behaviour.

The Beautiful Game was causing a nuisance for residents in Abercrombie Gardens and Lewis Silkin Way, in Lordshill as wayward footballs damaged cars and property.

But young people in the area have got onside with a new project to play with foam footballs and stick to a code of conduct, which has reduced complaints by 90 per cent.

Staff from housing association HydeMartlet took on some of the youngsters in a special match, as a way of saying thank you for their help in improving their community.

Regeneration co-ordinator Cathy Michaels said: “It’s been absolutely brilliant – the kids have been fantastic.

“They have really got involved with it, and made an effort to stick with the whole project.

“We worked with the young people to come up with a code of conduct, which dealt with things like what is a reasonable time to play until, why they should use the foam footballs instead of leather ones and the kind of language that was acceptable while playing.

“Overall, I think the project has improved the relationship between the youngsters and adults in the community no end.”

Working with a group of people who formed a residents’ association for the area, the housing association also organised for Saints in the Community to offer the kids a number of football coaching sessions.

Mrs Michaels added: “We kind of had a carrot and stick approach because we told them if they didn’t stick within the code of conduct it jeopardised their chances of getting involved with the football coaching.

“Throughout the project, the youngsters had been threatening to play us, so we said fine, we’ll put together a team of staff.

“And we were lucky enough to have a group of youngsters come along and take part in the match.”

One of the players admitted the project had been about compromise.

Dan Phillips, 15, of Lewis Silkin Way, said: “It’s not quite as good playing with the foam footballs but it does stop a lot of damage around our area.”