THE Observer saved a bond-forming soccer tournament between police and teenagers after it had been threatened by a health and safety ruling.
Youth leader Barry Emmett had banned police from taking part in the five-a-side competition at Accrington's New Era complex, saying that adults playing against 13-to-17-year-olds was a "safety hazard".
The ruling sparked anger among manyparents who claimed it smacked of political correctness.
But the community tournament went ahead on Wednesday evening after the Observer approached Mr Emmett's bosses.
County Councillor Marcus Johnstone, Cabinet member for children and young people, said: "When I was made aware of this situation I took advice and came to a clear view that this match should go ahead.
"While I appreciate there may have been health and safety concerns, these are outweighed by the benefits of police working with young people.
"After all, there have been 16-year-olds playing successfully in the Premiership."
The tournament was organised by Police Community Support Officer Paul Corris to improve relationships between police and young people.
He said: "A lot of youths are under the impression that the police are against them. We just want to show them that we're not and that we are approachable."
He added: "When told we could not enter a team ourselves for fear we might injure the children we decided to carry on in a supervisory role but we thought it defeated the object and was ridiculous."
Mr Emmett, fieldwork manager, declined to comment. But it is understood he was worried about a child being injured, in which case officials could be accused of not having carried out a proper risk assessment.
Some parents complained about "outrageous red tape" and said schools used to hold regular staff-vs-student matches.
One resident told a website forum: "This PC nonsense, or whatever it is, is getting to the point of being totally ridiculous. Presumably this is so none of the children can accuse any of the adults of having touched them inappropriately."
The youths also took part in a penalty shoot-out, in which the police would originally have only been able to play in goal, table tennis and pool competitions.
