The old football boots being given another match

Utilita is asking families across Britain to clear out cupboards and pass on boots their children have outgrown, as its Football Rebooted campaign returns with a nationwide collection day.

Somewhere in a cupboard, garage or under a bed, there are likely to be thousands of pairs of football boots that have played their last match for one child but are perfectly capable of playing another.

On October 3, Utilita will attempt to put some of them back on the pitch.

The energy company is bringing together its 12 Energy Hubs for a national Football Rebooted Day, collecting unwanted boots to be redistributed through local football club foundations.

It is a simple idea, but one that addresses two increasingly familiar concerns surrounding children’s sport: the cost of taking part and the waste created as young players rapidly grow out of their kit.

Football boots are particularly susceptible. Children can move through sizes quickly, leaving behind footwear that may have been worn for little more than a season. Football Rebooted seeks to create a second life for those pairs rather than allowing them to remain unused or eventually be thrown away.

“Sport participation should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their circumstances,” said Sam Cook, Utilita’s senior marketing partnerships manager.

“Every pair of boots collected can help another young player stay involved in the game they love, while also preventing perfectly usable footwear from going to waste.”

The collection will take place simultaneously at Utilita hubs in Leith, Hartlepool, Huddersfield, Blackburn, Sheffield, Derby, Leicester, West Bromwich, Luton, Shirley in Southampton, Gosport and Newport on the Isle of Wight.

People are being asked to bring boots that remain in good, reusable condition. Those collected will then be redistributed to local football club foundations.

The day will also include football activities and prize draws, with tickets, signed shirts and arena tickets among the prizes available to donors.

Football Rebooted has already returned thousands of pairs of boots to use since its launch. The initiative was also shortlisted for an environmental sustainability award at the Sport Industry Awards this year.

For Utilita, which has built a substantial presence around British football, the campaign combines its sporting sponsorship with a more practical form of community involvement. Schools, grassroots clubs and other organisations can also become collection points, allowing boots to be passed on throughout the year rather than only during the October event.

The economics of grassroots football can often appear modest beside the extraordinary sums circulating at the professional level. For families, however, the cost of boots, kits, travel and club fees soon accumulates, particularly when several children play sport.

Football Rebooted cannot remove all of those costs. It can, however, deal with one of them while making use of something another family no longer needs.

That is perhaps the appeal of the scheme. It requires no complicated intervention. One child has outgrown a pair of boots. Another needs them.

On October 3, Utilita is trying to bring the two together.

Find out more about Football Rebooted