THE role played by North-East football teams in the local community should serve as a blueprint for other teams and sports across the country.

A new report from Northumbria University studied the influence of the region's three Premiership clubs - Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Sunderland.

The report "Football is the Community" was commissioned by the North-East Sports Board and carried out by the social researcher Victor Jupp.

It shows the three clubs are major contributors to many spheres of life, including education, lifelong learning, unemployment, health, citizenship and social inclusion.

All of these areas have been identified by the Government as key issues in modern society.

Mr Jupp said: "The report is really an example of best practice for other clubs and other sports to follow.

"It demonstrates that, far from football being marginal to people's lives, it is in fact central to the lives of millions of ordinary people and its ability to influence needs to be better harnessed."

He added: "In carrying out our research we could not help being struck by the enthusiasm with which those in the community sections of the three clubs go about their work."

All three clubs make education priority and Newcastle United have a £1.6m learning centre, which can provide courses for up to 2,000 youngsters and adults every week.

Middlesbrough offer football-related education courses to ten and 11-year-olds through their Willie Maddren Centre, and Sunderland's Learning Through Football scheme offers a complete educational programme for both schools and colleges.

The clubs also play a pivotal role in encouraging good citizenship and all run anti-racism programmes.

Sunderland have an anti-truancy campaign while Middlesbrough run a citizenship day, when children learn about social values, responsibilities and the importance of respect for others.

Newcastle have piloted schemes to try to tackle the problem of hoax callers to the emergency services.

All three clubs encourage physical fitness among the young and play an important role in disseminating the message about the harmful effects of cigarettes, drugs and alcohol.

This is particularly important in the North-East, which has high rates of smoking and drinking and poor dietary habits.