Canary Wharf Group (CWG) has launched the Canary Wharf East London Summer League to provide teenagers from the local community with a summer of footballing activity.

The scheme has been set up to give young people in the local areas of Tower Hamlets and Newham something productive and beneficial to focus on through the summer months. It also aims to promote integration and understanding between different groups.

The boys train throughout the week and play against each other on Sundays. There are 10 teams comprising 22 players, so in total over 200 boys aged 16 and upwards are benefiting from the scheme.

Zakir Khan, Canary Wharf Group’s Sports Development Manager said:

‘Many local teenagers have limited options available to them so we have set up our own football league to encourage young people to get involved in challenging and competitive activity over the summer.’

As an incentive Canary Wharf Group is giving £700 to the league winners when the scheme finishes at the end of August, as well as £300 to the runners up. CWG is believed to be the only organisers that give cash rewards to amateur football teams.