This is a symbolic game with a serious message, a hoop shot for every stabbing victim here in Newham over the last year. Police officers playing sports with those affected by knife violence. An unusual match to raise awareness of an ever more common crime.

I lost a close friend, and a few weeks later, I lost another friend.

Anthony's lost friends to knife crime and now campaigns for change.

When people don't have direction, when people don't have something to do, that's when you see a lot of young people are easily influenced into doing the wrong things. But what it does is by engaging young people, by engaging anybody, and allowing them to belong into something where it's positive, where they're actually going to gain benefits.

Today's announcement is about these so-called zombie knives, a long blade often with a serrated edge, a sharp point, and sometimes words or images areas glamourising the weapon. We've heard for years how the government wants to clamp down on knife crime, and work being done in communities like this one in East London will be intrinsic to their efforts. But loopholes in the law have been exploited, allowing these knives to continue to be used. As of September, new government legislation will hope to change that. Police will have powers to seize knives found on private property if they suspect it's being used for a crime. Previously, they couldn't do that. The definition of a zombie zombie knife will expand to include both knives with images and words on and those without, while the maximum sentence for possession will increase from six months to two years.

We have already taken action to make the carrying of zombie knives illegal. When I became Home Secretary, I made the immediate decision to go further. I'm very pleased we're taking action now and we'll be determined to get these knives off the streets.

It's a cause actor Idrish Elba is campaigning for further action on?

I'm hopeful. A campaign launched at the top of the year, two weeks later, was Sears Movement. I want the government to really think about this in a 360 way. I want youth services to be reinstalled and reinvigorated. I want the charities that are doing all of this work for young people to be funded. There's enough money in this country that we can look at this carefully and offer some funding and stability for these organizations.

It's organizations like this one in Newham that are doing exactly that. And yet the problem, particularly in the capital, still on the rise. Molly Malone, Sky News in Newham, East London.