Gareth Southgate - Changing the game for young men.

Dan was delighted to be approached by Cardiff Productions to take part in the filming of Gareth Southgate - Changing the game for young men.

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Please see the article below:

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Danny Fullbrook

Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire

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• Published

  8 June 2026

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A youth mentor has praised Gareth Southgate for meeting 300 young people while shooting a new documentary.

During the filming of the BBC documentary Changing The Game For Young Men, the former England manager met Dan Gaze, a former youth offender who now provides support services to young people in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

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The 42-year-old said: "He met over 300 young people I put in front of him, which was great... I got him to meet 150 young people in the park after school.

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"It was absolutely awesome, I loved every minute of it, he was an absolute pleasure- he is really a child-focused person who really cares and loves it, it was an honour to be part of it."

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Six years ago, he launched the Dan Gaze Support Service to provide the "real" mentorship he felt was missing in traditional education.

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Gaze said: "I grew up in quite a traumatised upbringing, so I was expelled from junior school, expelled from secondary school.

"I grew up with no father, had a great nan and granddad and mum who tried their best but couldn't meet all my needs. I ended up going to prison when I was 18."

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Once he was out of prison, he wanted to change other young lives and worked as a volunteer and teacher before starting his own business.

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When Cardiff Productions first emailed him about the documentary, Gaze nearly ignored it, thinking it was "junk, sort of spam".

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But once he knew it was a real offer and agreed to do it 21 hours alongside the former England manager, an experience he now describes as "awesome" and "surreal".

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He was full of praise for Southgate, who during one day of filming spoke to 150 young people, invited there by Gaze.

Among them was a 12-year-old football fan who filmed a viral interview with the sporting legend.

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After filming with some of the attendees, he spent the rest of the day talking to people, taking selfies and signing autographs.

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The youth worker recalled: "I said to him, 'these kids are all going to want to meet you.' He said, 'Dan, no problem at all, I'll meet them all'.

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"The one thing I say to everyone is it takes a village to raise a child, it's not just down to parents... and [Southgate] was part of that village in my eyes."

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002xk5y/gareth-southgate-changing-the-game-for-young-men