In addition, mentoring was provided via established rugby coaches. The young people were supported to desist from offending behaviour, while developing resilience and positive identity formation to enable them to think independently. We took a community-based approach to tackling offending behaviour and we offered young people the opportunity to operate within established strategic frameworks and develop key transferable skills, necessary to become positive role models within their schools, homes and communities. MMU qualified rugby coaches facilitated the rugby activities and engage the young people referred by the youth offending services. The ongoing monitoring and evaluation process allowed the young people to share their experiences and provided essential feedback to the project, thereby allowing for reflective practice.

We were interested in learning how rugby union can be promoted to young people in the criminal justice system as an enjoyable and challenging sporting activity. We knew from our work with youth offending agencies that rugby union is not a sport that is instantly recognised amongst our proposed population of young people. Much of the early stages of the project were to understand how rugby union can be effectively promoted to these young people and their communities. The evaluation identified whether the programme led to demonstrable effects, both intended and unintended and the wider impacts of the programme on Greater Manchester’s youth justice landscape.

To ensure we take advantage of specific windows of opportunity and provide effective diversionary activities, to reduce offending and re-offending and increase well-being and employability skills, we gained a deeper understanding of the complexity of impact. We were keen to learn from previous research and include both coaches and groups of young people in our research to demonstrate the impact of rugby on the service provider as well as the service user.  Due to the ever changing tide of youth justice, Greater Manchester had a tried and tested model that informed wider impact agendas, as well as local ones. Our pre-existing partnership with the Greater Manchester Youth offending services – the Greater Manchester Youth Justice University Partnership (GMYJUP) enabled us to influence and support the inclusion of rugby-related activities in youth offending packages.