’No Ball Games’ alludes to the liberation of childhood and children’s exemption from life’s rules and expectations. The children are in an area not zoned for fun and play but do so in defiance, going so far as to toss the sign as if it were a toy.

’No Ball Games’ was sprayed in the same year on a shop wall at the junction between Tottenham High Road and Philip Lane, North London, but has since been removed and sold by the Sincura group in 2013 at an estimated £500,000, with the profits going to help disadvantaged children.

The group removed it as part of its controversial Stealing Banksy project. Many argued that removing the work would diminish its meaning and remove a piece of the area’s heritage. Banksy condemned the group’s removal of the work, saying, “The show has nothing to do with me, and I think it’s disgusting that people are allowed to display art on walls without getting permission.”

This piece first appeared on canvas in 2006 at Banksy’s Barely Legal exhibition in Los Angeles. In 2009, Banksy released a signed edition of 250 ‘No Ball Games’ prints on green and grey block backgrounds.