Pupils from St Joseph's school have proved once and for all that they are streets ahead when it comes to fighting crime. In a joint venture, the Sale Sharks mascot, Sharky, and Operation Hawk, run by Greater Manchester Police, have awarded 20 Sale youngsters in special recognition of their achievements, after winning a competition to help cut street crime.

There were 35 lucky winners in the Sale Sharks player cards competition but 20 of them were from St Joseph's school in Sale! More than 90,000 pupils entered the competition with suggestions of safety messages based on a range of topics, and the 35 winning messages were then printed onto the back of the player cards.

The St Joseph's pupils were presented with signed memorabilia from the club during a special presentation. They were each given a signed poster-sized player card with their winning message, along with other signed goodies from the club.

The competition, the first of its kind, was created by the pupils for the pupils, using sport as a vehicle to educate the youngsters on the consequences of street crime, as part of Operation Hawk.

Pupils will be able to collect the different cards featuring the team members at every home match throughout the year, eventually completing the collection by the end of the season. Pupils can then match up the players and the safety messages printed on the cards to those printed on a giant poster.

Operation Hawk was initially launched in August 2000 to reduce street robbery across Greater Manchester. It had an immediate effect on the level of robberies in key areas.