We fall over each other in talking about the dumb things footballers do, and we laugh / cringe at the not-so-cool things they do, so why shouldn’t we jump up and cheer when they actually do something good?

Peter Crouch isn’t going to Africa (nothing wrong with it Rio, calm down). No, he’s working in London to help Elite Youth, a community project aimed at giving young people a safe and supportive environment and access to facilities and opportunities that they would not have access to on their own.

Simply put, they’re taking kids off the streets and putting them through school and on football pitches. And the best part is that they’re doing it at home (their home, at least), and are making a direct contribution to their own community.

Social responsibility should be this simple.

Here’s Peter Crouch on his visit to Elite Youth:

We’ve made fun of you before Mr Crouch, but props for doing good.

Elite Youth, for those of you who’re living in England, is funded by the National Lottery. No, that doesn’t mean that playing the lottery is a charitable contribution, just that they spent 550m pounds last year in community projects like these. Imagine the amount of money the society would have to put into buying lottery tickets before that money became available. Now consider where society would be if we put that money directly to charity.

Not knocking lottery or gambling, but it’s proof that most of our problems can be solved if people just put their money as a collective to good use.