UK Football

WATFORD, England, Aug 18 (Reuters) - England footballers David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand and David James joined the fight against knife crime on Britain's streets on Monday.

The trio helped to launch a new Government anti-knife crime campaign called "It Doesn't Have to Happen".

It follows the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old boy in south London on Saturday, the 23rd teenager to be killed in a stabbing or a shooting in the capital this year.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and the three players spoke two days before England's opening international of the season against the Czech Republic at Wembley Stadium.

Beckham, who grew up in Leytonstone, east London, told a news conference that he had witnessed the effects of knife crime first hand as a young teenager.

"When I was 13 years old the brother of one of my best friends was just about to sign a professional contract with Leyton Orient and he was walking down the street one afternoon when he saw a fight break out.

"He went over to help and ended up getting stabbed in the back and was paralysed.

"It's been going on for a long time, no one wants to see the devastation my friend and his family went through.

"As a parent, of course, you don't expect to pack your kids off to school in the morning and never see them again. This campaign is very important. It is something that us, as footballers, can help with.

"We've got a voice and we've got a voice that kids listen to. It's important that we get involved in this, it's so important that we believe that things can change."

James added: "I have three teenage children living in London. When I was there and and went to parties it was all right as long as you didn't come back too late and were in a sober state.

"Nowadays your kids go out and you are fearing that they might come back hurt or damaged or worse.

"When we were growing up we all had releases in sport which meant we could focus on something, and not get bored. Too many young people are bored and this is where the problems start."

Ferdinand, who went to the same school as Stephen Lawrence, who was murdered in Peckham, south London, in 1993, has been involved in community schemes to help teenagers for many years and said he welcomed the government's initiative.

"Deterrents are also very important," he said. "If someone thinks they are going to go to prison for a year or two of their young lives it might make them think twice about carrying a knife in the first place."

Smith added: "Some young people may think that carrying a knife makes them safer. In fact the opposite is true, if you carry a knife you risk it being used, and possibly against you.

"It doesn't have to happen, families' grief doesn't have to happen, and communities shouldn't have to live in fear."

Smith said that more than 2,500 arrests had been made and 1,600 knives seized since June under its plan to tackle knife crime with more than 55,000 people stopped and searched under the measures.