Anti social behavior or boys being boys

Has OP confirmed what time they were playing?

I said most of us, I definitely knew of people who did stuff but they were the rough kids.

@Fearlesssloth how do you know they weren’t disturbing anyone?

I help with a youth group. There are rules on how many hours the venue can be used by this group and others so as to not cause too much disturbance for the neighbours

I don’t think that’s true. Can you honestly say you and no one you knew ever did anything anti social as a teen?

Why do people keep comparing this to something totally different? I don’t agree with the phrase ‘boys will be boys’ either but I agree that ‘kids will be kids’. Of course knocking on doors and scaring elderly people or vandalising property is wrong and should be punished. But these boys weren’t doing anything like this - they’re actions weren’t even disturbing or annoying anyone

Exactly, always pulling stunts like this doesn’t make it right. Most of us manage to get through teen years having fun without doing anything antisocial.

They aren’t doing anything like that though 😂

They are playing football on a football pitch!

I’m assuming the club has CCTV for a reason

We have a group of youths currently running amok in the early hours of the morning knocking on doors, frightening the elderly etc. I can see which parents on here would be excusing it as boys needing to be boys.

The criminalisation of kids behaviour is a bit 🙄
Playing football on a football pitch when it is not in use should be totally normal. and teenagers meeting to play together is a great thing, much better than being stuck at home playing video games.
Teenagers belong in the public space as well.

‘Damaged by not wearing the correct footwear’
The world really has gone mad! This must be one of the most pearl clutching posts I’ve ever read on MN..and the bar is high there!
If it’s so damaging to wear trainers (which will v likely be what the kids were wearing) rather than football boots then why are half the kids allowed to wear trainers at my DD’s weekly football sessions?

Unless they were shouting and screaming at 3am, the neighbours would be pathetic wet wipes if they complain about teenagers playing football on a football pitch.

They didn’t vandalise the ground! They just played a bit of football on it…which is what it’s designed for at the end of the day. Vandalising it is a completely different thing and obviously that would be unacceptable. This is just some kids climbing over a wall to play football on a football pitch. Did you (or your kids if you have them) never do anything a bit naughty in your youth? Must’ve been a very boring one if you didn’t. My friends and I snuck onto an outdoor ice rink during winter once when I was about 14, spent a hilarious night sliding across the rink on our arses before we had to run for our lives from the security guard. We still laugh about that night to this day! Was anyone harmed? No. Was the ice rink affected in any way? No. Was anyone’s life in any way negatively affected? No. If you can’t have a few silly adventures when you’re a teenager you’re going to grow up to be a repressed and frustrated adult. I’d much rather my kids were out living their lives, getting up to a bit of mischief occasionally, than sitting in their bedrooms on screens, glued to social media.

I would not be happy with this.
A police office coming to warn my teen for playing football. Its too much.
This is a non issue. The parents have been told and thats enough. You can tell your son not to do it again. Matter closed. Doesnt need a police visit.
Its a waste of police time and i would say no to the visit (are you allowed to refuse? I am not sure). And reply thanks for letting me know it wont happen again. Has there even been any damage to the astro?
The worlds mad. Its kids playing football. Inform the parents and leave it there.

Yes but the point is it's Astro turf. Which can be damaged by not wearing correct footwear.
So perhaps their intention might not have been to cause damage but it could easily have happened.

There is also actually the question of noise. Certainly some of the facilities in my area co exist with their near neighbours on the understanding that noise nuisance generated by the club is managed. And the noise of these boys playing football at a time when the neighbouring residents did not expect to have to put up with may have generated bad feeling towards the climb locally.

If you are going to start differentiating between damage and nuisance caused by deliberate vandalism and damage and nuisance caused by ignorance then you are creating a very difficult situation for those people trying to protect facilities and properties.

To my mind, antisocial behaviour would have been them smoking joints, setting fire to the astroturf, scrawling obscenities on the walls and breaking the windows in the clubhouse, not having a game of football.

If they just played football and nothing else happened.. then a bit of a telling off for being stupid would be fine.

I remember as a kid going into places we probably were not meant to be.. not as much cctv around then though. We never did any damage, but presumably would have gotten in trouble today. I agree with the other posted that if there was nothing more going on than playing football, I'd chalk it up to teens being teens, rather than boys being boys.

That doesn't mean it goes without a telling off though, but it also doesn't need to be a huge drama.

@JonesTown but if they damage the pitch by not wearing correct footwear is that fine?

There is a big difference between vandalism and playing football on a football pitch.

I was quite prepared to say that if course it's anti social behaviour. However having read the details I really couldn't get excited over boys playing football. I'd have thought that a phonecall from the police would ensure they take that as a warning. In the grand scheme of things seems like a waste of police time.

There is nothing to " lighten up" about.

Anti social behaviour causes so many problems for local communities.

The area I live in has a lot of community football clubs that provide a real outlet for young people. And there is never a week goes past with out reports of vandalism that threatens the very existence of these clubs because they dont have the money to repair and replace the damage done. And the sick thing is the worst hit clubs are those in the most deprived areas where the clubs are doing a lot to try to help the local community.

No wonder young people behave badly when people like yourself tolerate and excuse anti social behaviour

What sort of club is it? Youth club or sports club?

I think if it were me I'd be asking the police to see the footage and the evidence that they climbed over the fence as opposed to an oversight on the part of whoever locks the gates.

Privately I'd explain to my child the clubs reasoning, that it's expensive, risk of injury, risk of impaling etc if they did climb the fence, risk of damage to the astroturf but ultimately if the gate was left open then I think it's silly for anyone to expect a group of kids not to be inclined to use it realistically.

A good club in my mind would be trying to identify the boys and get them actively involved in the club as a proactive measure. So in that respect their response is disappointing.

@sittingonabeach

I’m not convinced playing football on a football pitch (that was likely funded with public money) is going to cause damage.

I’d have thought a quiet word would be sufficient rather than trying to criminalise 16 year old boys for playing sport.

I actually suspect a bit of media shaming wouldn’t go amiss here.

I assume it is community police officer

Why are you disappointed in the way the club has behaved @JonesTown? Their pitch could be damaged

Oh lighten up