A group of dancers from one of Liverpool FC's community programmes scooped the Alternative/Non Football Programme of the Year at the Kickz Awards on Monday afternoon.

The girls, from Stockbridge Village, rehearse and hone their dancing skills twice a week as part of the Premier League-run Kickz for Kids programme, which aims to support young people in high areas of anti-social behaviour and is run by Liverpool FC in conjunction with Everton.

Along with adults and other local Kickz participants, they made the trip down the East Lancs to collect their award at the Etihad stadium where Sky Sports presenter Ben Shephard was joined by Manchester City ambassador Patrick Vieira for the ceremony.

It was an afternoon of inspirational stories about teenagers, professional football club coaches, police and local authority staff who endeavour to make their communities safer and help transform young people's lives.

The Kickz scheme uses football as a tool to promote social inclusion and engage youngsters by using local ball parks and facilities.

And Liverpool FC's female Kickz team were acknowledged for their continued efforts to support Merseyside communities. 

There were 10 categories of awards and Liverpool/Everton Kickz were nominated in six. Forbes Duff is the Kickz officer for the club and he spoke of his pride at receiving the award.

"The Kickz awards were an excellent opportunity for all our young people to travel to the Etihad and experience a stadium like Manchester City's," Forbes told Liverpoolfc.tv. "Best of all it was great to see the young females getting recognised for their hard work through Kickz.

"Although Liverpool FC looks to excel on the pitch, we look to engage with the community off the pitch and getting the award on Monday was a great achievement.

"It's important that we show, as a club, we aren't about leaving people in the community behind and it's important that we return the support that they show us on a weekly basis."

Bolton midfielder and American international Stuart Holden, the secretary of state for education Michael Gove and Premier League general secretary Nic Coward were also present on the night.

They were joined by plenty of important faces from around the football world.

One of them, Patrick Vieira, said: "Schemes like this are fantastic because we have a responsibility to try to help the kids around the local community to achieve their dreams. Every kid, all around the world is playing football and as the number one sport in the world we have a duty to give back to society."

To view pictures of the Kickz awards ceremony, click here>>