No Ball Games first appeared in the context of the famous Barely Legal exhibition in Los Angeles in 2006. Another version emerged on a wall in North London in 2009.
The work depicts a pair of children playing with a street sign that reads “No Ball Games.” They use the sign as if it were an actual ball. Rendered in Banksy’s signature stencil style, the image is clearly loaded with irony. The artist communicates that even children’s recreational activities are now subject to strict controls and regulations.
In true Banksy fashion, the piece encourages us to act by breaking these restrictive rules. The artist mocks overprotective governments that interfere with personal choices, even in leisure time. The children should be understood more broadly—they symbolically represent people in general, constantly monitored and regulated by a higher authority, against which Banksy warns us and invites rebellion.
In 2013, the mural in Tottenham was removed from its original wall, divided into three sections, and sold to fund projects for disadvantaged children.