Go to any open pitch on a Sunday evening and count the people who are not playing. The aunties selling groundnut. The old men with a settled opinion about the referee. The small boy appointed to guard everyone's slippers.
That is not just sport. That is a town hall with a ball in it.
We tend to treat youth football as a pastime and then wonder why talent drifts away or sits idle. A tournament with proper dates, a printed fixture, a ticket worth buying and a trophy that means something does more for a young person than ten speeches about leadership.
The case is simple: take local sport seriously and it will repay you in discipline, friendship and a few players you will be proud to say you saw first.