We at the Child Brain Injury Trust do not endorse or encourage any kind of activitiy or so called sport that has only one objective - to knock your opponent out! There is no need for it, no sense in it and there is plenty of evidence to show the damage it causes especially to the contestants brain's.
However, we do encourage children to participate in sports and for boys and girls to have activities that enables them to keep fit and to let of steam in a controlled and safe environment. However, beating each other up for the gratification of an audience is not something we condone not should it be - we see far too many cases of childhood brain injury and the impact it has on the whole family to ever support these kind of sports.
Lisa Turan
CEO
Press Statement
Police will take no action against the organisers of "barbaric" cage fighting involving children as young as eight.
Concerns were raised about whether two boys were put at risk by taking part in a bout at Greenlands Labour Club in Preston, Lancashire, in front of a 250-strong adult audience.
But a spokesman for Lancashire Police said the force has "looked into this matter fully and there are no issues for us to pursue".
Earlier Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt condemned the event as "barbaric" and expressed shock at an apparent lack of restrictions on the activity.
A video of the bout posted on the internet shows the youngsters fighting in a cage without protective padding or headgear and receiving medical attention.
"Getting more young people doing sport is great but I do ask myself whether it really does have to be in a cage," Mr Hunt told the BBC. "It just feels to me, it feels very barbaric and I know there are concerns about children that young doing a sport like that.
"We don't want to discourage children from doing sport, and particularly young boys with all the social problems that we were thinking about in the summer. We have to recognise that sport has a very, very important role but I think with this particular sport, I think some people will ask some questions."
Club owner Michelle Anderson defended her decision to stage the event, and Nick Hartley, the father of one of the boys, told the BBC his son was not at risk of harm.
Mr Hartley said: "He loves the sport. It's not one bit dangerous, it's a controlled sport. He likes to do it. He's never forced to do it, he wants to do it, so leave him to do it. He'll never get hurt, it's a controlled sport, he could never get hurt."
Ms Anderson said: "The children were not doing cage fighting, they were just grappling. There was no punching, kicking or striking. The event was perfectly legal. If you criticise this, then you've got to ask yourself if it's all right for kids to do boxing or judo."
