Football scheme kicks crime into touch
Saturday 20th March 2010, 2:59PM GMT.
The football in the community scheme - including those one at Clos Gosset - has proved to be both popular and effective. Picture: David Ferguson (00915619)
YOUTH crime in St Helier has dropped by 50 per cent since a free evening football tournament for children was launched at Fort Regent.
The States police received only 66 reports of youth crime during January and February compared with 131 in the same period last year, 136 in 2008 and 129 in 2007.
The sharp drop in incidents has coincided with the launch of the Barclays Wealth Friday Night Football League at Fort Regent. The competition, run by the community sports development team, is designed to reduce anti-social behaviour by giving youngsters an alternative to gathering on the streets.
The league, which is open to 12- to 17-year-olds, was launched in Les Quennevais in November 2007 to help to reduce low-level crime in the area. During the following months, anti-social behaviour in the neighbourhood dropped by 70 per cent.
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Well done (and thanks) to everyone involved in setting this up.
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50% that’s impressive, and 70% at Quennevais. I’m actually quite pleasantly surprised.
I bet if we still had the birch, or some other form of corporal punishment like they do in less-forgiving countries, we’d have seen an even higher percentage of reduced criminal activity. Still, that’s perhaps an debate for another time.
Indeed “well done” to the Barclays Wealth team for giving their time to organise this.
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excellent, well done to all who have given time to this worth while project.
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Well done Barclays Wealth
Keep up the good work
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This is really good. Great to see the community coming together with a common goal and then seeing that it really pays off! We cant have enough programs like this. Maybe one aimed at girls next?
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2. Tobias – In another island (Orcas) in another world (USA)we upped the prosecution and penalties on our anti-social youth and merely increased the number of damaged youth and families – Then we invested in organized youth activities with the same desirable result as your Barclay’s Wealth program.
Keeping them busy is preferable to beating them.
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Well done Barclays Wealth!
I can’t believe it’s taken 3 years to realise this?
We all know that providing youths with something to do is the only way to solve the problem –
its a shame that states of jersey do not take responsibility and realise that their “letting facilities go ‘beyond repair’ ” and not replacing places that used to be available for youths, is what caused the rise of youth crime in the first place!
Well done again Barclays Wealth!
It’s time the States of Jersey took a long hard look at themselves and took a leaf out of your book!
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Football 1 – Le Marquand 0. I know where to put my money.
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This excellent program only works on the bored who cant for some reason amuse themselves.
The hardcore (10 or so ) don’t play games, they get their kicks hurting people.
Its for them we need to reintroduce corporal punishment.
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It’s my understanding that the Friday Night Leagues are run by Community Sport Development (which is part of Education Sport and Culture) and are sponsored by Barclays Wealth.
Its good to see that tax payers money is finally being spent on something worthwhile and providing activities that young people in Jersey actually want to do rather than youth clubs that nobody goes into anymore.
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