‘I’m open’ ... but nobody passes to Prince of Wales during kickabout

The Prince of Wales joked that he did not want to risk injuring a teenager after nobody passed the ball to him during a kickabout.

The Prince of Wales played football with youngsters in Toxteth, Liverpool, but barely got a touch, as he joked: “I’m not going to go around slide tackling, am I!”

The Prince, a keen amateur footballer and Aston Villa supporter, spent time on the pitch at a new community facility and made a few gentle passes in front of a small crowd which included Sir Kenny Dalglish – known as King Kenny to Liverpool fans.

Wearing casual trainers and a thin jacket in the cold, the Prince happily agreed to play in a kickabout during a training session for players, who wore orange and purple bibs for the session.

They had been warned in advance about their special visitor by their coach, who joked: “Remember who you’re playing against – don’t go in too hard!”

And they appeared to take the advice to heart, with the Prince spending much of his time on the pitch watching and shouting encouragement, making a token effort to put pressure on the youngsters but letting them play on.

As he spoke to Sir Kenny afterwards, who appeared to laughingly praise him for his efforts, the Prince said: “No not at all! I was like ‘just pass me the ball!’ I was running around chasing them.”

Joking that he had been worrying about pulling a hamstring with a group of professionals, which included Everton players Ian Snodin and Graham Stewart, he added: “We’ll ignore that. It is the worst thing when you turn up and try to play cold.”

The Prince spent time talking to teenage girls and boys about their training and which teams they supported, pausing for photos afterwards. The Tiber Football Centre hosts 1,200 young people a week.

The complex includes a function suite and outdoor event space, education rooms, a café, and changing rooms for the on-site football pitch.

Both the Royal Foundation and the Prince, in a private capacity, have made donations to complete its fixtures and fittings, allowing it to be opened as soon as possible without the need for further fundraising.

Inside, he met members of the youth steering group, who have fundraised and come up with ideas to make the facility fit for purpose.

Afterwards, the Prince found himself in the middle of a scrum of curious locals, who had heard he was there and gathered for selfies and small talk.

The Prince gave high fives, helped people work their phone cameras and held hands with members of the public – some of whom wanted to talk to him about how local people were struggling.

Before the engagement started, he spent time with local primary school children.

One group, from the Princes Primary School and English Martyrs Catholic Primary School, gave him envelopes for Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

Each contained £10 and details of their “Smile Challenge”, inviting the young royals to use the money to make someone smile without giving them the cash. One of their own challenges had resulted in a pupil using their £10 to buy water for a mosque, forging a new relationship with its members.

“This one will be a good one for Louis,” William said. “He needs a good challenge. That’s very kind of you, thank you very much.”

He promised to find a way to report back on how the children had done.

The Prince also asked students whether they had been at school that day and what they had learned, laughing as they could not remember and telling them: “I ask my children this every day and they always say absolutely nothing at all.”

Spanner in the works

Earlier in the day, the Prince visited the Cycle of Life at the Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre, which is supported by Children in Need. The project provides bicycles and teaches people how to fix them, ride them, and use them to start their own mini businesses.

Rainy weather meant he did not take part in a planned cycle ride – joking later that he would have “looked like a drowned rat” – but Prince William did take up the offer of pumping up a bike tyre and fixing it back on.

“As a parent of young children, I do see the responsibility of looking after things – whether it’s a pet or kit like this – as part of growing up,” he said.

After being shown how to tighten the wheel, he asked the young people he was working with: “Are you sure you’re brave enough to ride that now?”

His own children, he said, “like to use the back brake all the time and go whizzing along”, noting that the better technique was to squeeze both brakes together.

He spent about 50 minutes with Cycle of Life members, asking how they had got into cycling through the group and how it had changed their lives.

Preoccupied with the weather, he mused that the rain and wind in the UK could be off-putting, asked what could be done to make cycling more popular.

Shown an example of a window cleaning business set up from the back of a bike with a large storage box mounted on it via the OnTheGo project, the Prince also accepted a hot chocolate from a stall decked out with a drinks machine and pastries – also via two wheels.