‘Young People, Street Soccer and Anti Social

Behaviour’ 

Dr Phil Johnson, Criminology & Criminal Justice Lecturer, UCBC

The backgroundThis paper is based on the findings of the 2011 report of the Evaluation of the anti-social behaviour diversionary activities provided by Blackburn Rovers CommunityTrust in Blackburn with Darwen (Johnson, 2011).

In an attempt to divert young people away from ASB a range of activities has been delivered by the CT in selected areas of Blackburn with Darwen since January 2009.

The activitiesThe CT provide: Street Soccer, Midnight

Leagues, Kickz and Click @ the BRIC.

The open access service is provided free of charge to

young people aged 11-17 at hot times inhot spots for ASB.

The evaluationThe research was commissioned by the CT

and funded by the Blackburn with Darwen Community Safety Partnership.

A number of measures were required from the final report.

With regard to assessing its ability to reduce levels of ASB, the limits of official data (see Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, 2010) meant that additional methods of inquiry had to be used.

Research MethodsThe desire to adopt effective methods meant thatquestionnaires and official data had to be accompanied by other measures:

“quality of insight can be more important than reliability. Both insight and reliability are needed, but insight does not need to always arise simultaneously out of the same exact protocol as reliability. Powerful insight can arise out of walking down a street by mistake.” (Kane, 2004:317)

The sources of dataTherefore the research team acquired:239 questionnaires from local residents;42 interviews with local residents;6 interviews with key CT staff;50 interviews with young people using the

service;100 structured interviews with

representatives of local businesses;130 structured interviews with

representatives of local businesses.

The ASB research teamLead Researchers:Angela Pasquill and Jean Darby Researchers:Charlotte Hesketh, Sam Bartley, Angela Mckeefery,

NicolaJoseph, Trisha Williams, Marselle Davies, Jade Conway, Dishan Asraf, Shamas Aziz, Emma Fort, James Haythornthwaite, Donna Braithwaite, Michael Gamble, Angela Chadwick, Darren Kenny, Rachael Woodward,

AllanShorrock, Saabir Patel.

The residents’ viewsHouseholds were chosen to take part on the

basis of their proximity to an activity. The CT provided 200 match day tickets for a

Blackburn Rovers Premier League game at Ewood Park.

Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to identify the perception levels and the research team followed the method used in the British Crime Survey (Parfrement-Hopkins and Hall, 2009).

ASB perceptionsThis method breaks ASB down into seven

discrete

problems:“From the list below please state whether you feel any ofthe following is a problem in your area (places within a 15 minute walk from your house).”

a) Teenagers hanging around on the streets

It’s not a problem at all It’s not a very big problem

It’s a fairly big problem It’s a very big problem

ASB perceptionsb) Vandalism, graffiti and other deliberate

damage toproperty or vehicles?

It’s not a problem at all It’s not a very big problem

It’s a fairly big problem It’s a very big problem

ASB perceptions: People using or dealing drugs? People being drunk or rowdy in public places?Rubbish or litter lying around? Noisy neighbours or loud parties?Abandoned or burnt-out cars?

It is possible to score a maximum of 21 for these seven

questions and those who scored 11 or more are deemed

to have high perception levels of ASB.

High ASB perceptionsBangor Street Community Centre: 18%St. Bede's High School: 17%Ewood Park, BRIC: 3%Darwen Vale High School: 23%Holy Trinity Primary School: 12%Sudellside Community Centre: 37%Shadsworth Community Centre: 31%Average: 20%National figure: 17% (Thorpe and Hall, 2009)

Findings and non findingsThe data’s statistical analysis revealed that age was not

associated with perceptions of high levels of ASB.

However, a correlation was found between the gender of

the respondent and perceptions of some ASB. In the

examples of Vandalism, graffiti and other

deliberate damage to property or vehicles and Rubbish or

litter lying around - a relationship that was significant to

the 1% level was found. In other words, women were

significantly more likely to identify these as problems.

Residents’ support for the CT?Over 80% of the local residents believed these kind of initiatives represented an appropriate use ofpublic money. The strength of their support was seen in the belief that a small (albeit hypothetical)increase in their council tax would be endorsed if itmeant the schemes continued to take place in their area.The benefits of ‘taking the kids off the streets’ and ‘giving them something to do’ were regularly expressed.

The views of CT staffThe coaches believed that the sessions enabled a young person’s leisure time to be spent usefully.Over the two-year period each venue has offered young people the opportunity for 600 hours of activity.An average of 32 young people attend each sessionand therefore the service has provided a total of 19,200hours of supervised activities. But for the CT, half of these people would not have

beeninvolved in these types of activities.

The views of CT staffThe activities require time to evolve as due to the

nature of the work the Community Trust can be resented

for usurping previously open public spaces. However,

the experience of the members of staff in dealing with

such resistance and their use of young people as a

problem solving resource can overcome these obstacles.

The views of CT staff‘At Olive Lane and Shadsworth the young

people were very territorial and were like “it’s our pitch” but after a couple of months of getting to know the lads and know who’s going down, things sorted themselves out. There’s no hostility at all, they know my name and the coaches’ names, they know everyone’s name and they have a bit of a chat once you get your face known. Once they know you are staying no matter what, they do get easier to work with.’ (Coach A)

The utility of the young people‘Some young people take like a fatherly role

and it does surprise you how they are with each other. It’s surprising just how much they will help each other out.’ (Coach B)

The staff displayed positive perceptions of the young people that use the service and the strength of these relationships is illustrated by the progression into supervisory roles from four people who used to attend the sessions as a participant.

The utility of different agencies Whilst attending the sessions the young people in

2009-10 had the opportunity to engage with organisations such as the Supported Housing Unit, Blackburn with Darwen Foyer, the Reach Out team, Groundworks and Brooke. This level of interaction was supported by additional activities such as crime workshops and interactive presentations from bodies such as the CELLS Project, Lifeline and Be Sure.

The service’s relationship with the police was initially considered to be very strong and frequent visits from PCSOs to the different locations were recorded but this contact was said to have been reduced in 2010.

The utility of different approaches There was also evidence of a partnership between the CT

and the armed forces at the Kickz programme at Bangor Street. This work was conducted in an area that has a very high percentage of residents with an Asian heritage background. The sessions involved army personnel providing advice on fitness exercises and also playing football with the young people attending the sessions.

Another approach was adopted with the launch of Click @ the BRIC that provided free access to a computer room and games facility on every night of the week excluding Sundays. This has meant that up to January 2011, young people had been offered over 700 hours of access to these resources.

The utility of different approaches ‘Since the cyber café has been built I think it’s

been fantastic. We get the chance to get young people working on computers a bit more. We get quite a few people from the traveller community who may not be able to read and write that well but since coming here you can see their literacy levels improve.’ (Coach A)

This time is spent developing ITC skills and the internet access enables young people to acquire experience in activities such as filming and uploading video clips onto You Tube and other social networking sites.

Future developments?An extension of the service’s advisory and

guidance remit would be desirable as it offers levels of communication with young people that are not available elsewhere.

‘What happens to those that leave at 18? Or we supposed to just let them go off and do their own thing? How do we know they won’t fall back into issues they had previously. We should get an idea of the personal goals they have and give them advice and support as to how they can achieve them.’ (Coach, C)

Future developments?‘The general consensus within the

Community Trust is we’d like it to be in every area of the Borough. Let’s get out there and let’s affect as many young people as we can. It might take a few years but once things get set I can see it happening. It surprises me how we’ve reached the areas we have.’ (Coach D)

The views of the young people‘The best thing here is you can have a bash on

Facebook or you can go outside and have a kick around with a football. It’s lovely, I love it.’

‘If I wasn’t here I’d probably be smokin weed. I’d be getting smashed somewhere if you want the truth. Probably stuck in a fight somewhere.’

These diverse remarks outline the different natures of the young people that the service caters for; a diversity that can also be seen in the range of ages (11 – 17 year olds) who regularly attend.

The views of the young peopleWhilst remarks referring to drug and alcohol use could either

be boasts or genuine opinions, the frequency of these comments would suggest that the service has some ability in diverting some of the young people away from this type of behaviour.

The structure provided by the service also appeared to benefit the young people as not much of an alternative appeared to exist:

‘[I’d be] just walking round the streets, playing footy or something on the streets if I wasn’t here’

An increase in physical activity appeared to be a predominant outcome of the service as “watching television or playing on my xbox/playstation” were the most common replies to the question of ‘what would you be doing if you weren’t here?’

Observing the young peopleThe range in ages of the young people

attending the sessions did not threaten the quality of the socialisation and neither the observations nor the interviews revealed any evidence of the older members of a group exploiting their position against the younger ones. Therefore open access was observed to the activities and both the playing of football and the use of the computers was available to all of the young people. The accessibility of the service was also apparent in the range of ethnic backgrounds in the young people and a variety of accents were heard to be spoken.

The views of local businessesHigh ASB Perceptions (Numbers/High perceptions)Bangor Street Community Centre 21 15St. Bede's High School      19 3 Ewood Park, BRIC 7 3 Darwen Vale High School 21 4 Holy Trinity Primary School 11 6Sudellside Community Centre 11 6Shadsworth Community Centre 10 1Total 100 38

The views of FansThese views were acquired via structured

interviews with a representative sample of fans outside Ewood Park before three matches that were played between November 2010 and January 2011.

They, like the businesses, did not appear to know much about the CT’s work but 80% of them felt that it was ‘important for the club to spend resources on activities designed to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour in Blackburn with Darwen’.

Recorded levels of ASBA complete picture? Or just 25% of the ‘real’

instances?The measure for these figures was taken at the

conclusion of the fieldwork in January 2011 and the available figures provided a comparison with the recorded instances of ASB from twelve months earlier (Lancashire Constabulary, 2011). The comparison of the figures from August – October 2009 and the same three month period in 2010 allowed the service to be reliably assessed as by then it had established itself in the different parts of the Borough.

Recorded levels of ASBAreas Percentage change in recorded ASBBangor Street Community Centre -15.6St. Bede's High School      -37Ewood Park, BRIC - 15.9Darwen Vale High School - 22.2Holy Trinity Primary School + 1.8Sudellside Community Centre - 28.7Shadsworth Community Centre - 27.2Total change - 144.2

CostsThe decrease meant that 131 fewer incidents over thethree month period were recorded. If these figures were replicated over the service’s full course then such a reduction would represent over 1100 fewer incidents. The cost of administering one ASBO is said to be £2,500 and therefore if all of these incidents had resulted in orders being made, a total cost of £2,750,000 would have been invoked.

Final pointsThese costs would almost double if the orders were

breached and the young person ended up in custody and as 40 per cent of young people have breached an ASBO, and in turn 46 per cent of these have ended up in custody, such additional costs would be likely (NACRO, 2011). The total costs of these incidents must also include those suffered by their victims plus those suffered by the offenders. The cost to an offender could have serious implications as their court appearance increases the likelihood of that individual becoming further involved with the criminal justice system in the future.

References Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (2010) “Stop the rot”. URL (accessed

February 2011) http://www.hmic.gov.uk/media/stop-the-rot-20100923.pdf Johnson, P. (2011) Evaluation of the anti-social behaviour diversionary activities

provided by Blackburn Rovers Community Trust in Blackburn with Darwen. URL (accessed February 2011) http://criminology.sost.blackburn.ac.uk/?q=node/add/story

Kane S., C. (2004) “The unconventional methods of cultural criminology”. Theoretical Criminology, 8 (3), pp 303–321.

Lancashire Constabulary (2011) Local Crime Mapping. URL (accessed Jan 2011) http://maps.police.uk/view

NACRO (2011) Antisocial behaviour orders. URL (accessed February 2011) http://www.nacro.org.uk/criminal-justice-expertise/policy-lines/antisocial-behaviour-orders-asbos,92,NAP.html

Parfrement-Hopkins, J. and Hall, P. (2009) “Perceptions of anti-social behaviour” in D. Moon and A. Walker (eds) Perceptions of crime and anti-social behaviour: Findings from the 2008/09 British Crime Survey. URL (accessed January 2010) www.homeoffice.gov.uk

Thorpe, K. and Hall, P. (2009) Public Perceptions in A. Walker, J. Flatley, C. Kershaw and D. Moon (eds) Crime in England & Wales 2008/09 Volume 1: Findings from the British Crime Survey and police recorded crime. London: Home Office. URL (last accessed June 2010) http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs09/hosb1109vol1.pdf