One of the 200 people gathered at a passionate launch event was a housing worker from Camden who recalled the numerous complaints she received from local residents about Cole, who was constantly kicking a football around.
She pointed out that nowadays Cole would have been slapped with an antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) and had his football exploits curtailed, rather than a career at West Ham United, Chelsea and England that looks like resulting in a clutch of medals and a place at the World Cup in Germany in 2006.
The Camden worker explained that lots of estate officers and council employees don't want to enforce ASBOs and would rather the large amounts of money being invested locally in the antisocial behaviour agenda were spent on facilities for young people. Others underlined the intrinsic right of young people to hang out on the streets. Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, recalled many happy hours of her youth spent doing just that.
No-one can complain about young people hanging around outside if there isn't adequate, long-term money provided for youth facilities. On the other hand, it's also not proper or right to keep young people locked up indoors all the time.
ASBO Concern is calling for a government review of ASBOs and for youth services to be properly funded (see p5) to counteract "antisocial behaviour" in a positive way.
The rationale is that ASBOs are expensive, don't work and are biased against young people. If ASBO Concern can back these assertions up with hard evidence that can be used as a lobbying tool by sympathetic MPs in the House of Commons and peers in the House of Lords, it will have performed a valuable service to young people and youth work.
Who knows, the streets of England might even produce enough Joe Coles to win the World Cup for the first time in years.
