Under 9's match abandoned due to abuse thrown at referee

[Ross]

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/sport/Referee-abandons-game-due-to.3767919.jp

Discuss.

Worth noting, some interesting comments at the bottom of the page

[Raph]

These refs should be protected - if I was at that game then I would had a 'stern word' with the spectator. Whether he has made an error or not; this is a learning process for him and not life or death. Our sport should be played with a smile - especially at Junior Alliance level. It is shocking.

The parent shouting from the sideline is encouraging and nurturing a similar behaviour from the 30 young lads in the respective squads. It is not the ref, but the spectator who needs to grow up.

[Harbs]

juicy, i had to have a pluck totally unhappy with that persons comments on the subject.

[Woodgate]

All parents should sign a code of conduct, where they should only be allowed to encourage their own 'Little Johnnys' :mabub:. Refs at that level need to be encouraged not slated or abused. If they decide to pack it in because of the hassle, where will the refs come from for when 'Little Johnny' comes to the senoir game? What kind of example are the parents showing when they are shouting and hollering at refs and at the opposing spectators? I guess these parents don't even know the rules of the game! Also, kids need to learn basic football skills, it should not be a 'win at all costs' mentallity. Is that why we have no young players comming through the professional ranks? It's about passing the ball and being confident in possesion, not seeing how far you can boot it up to opposing goal.

[Raph]

Hear hear Woodgate. All I ever heard when I was a kid was "Get rid of it" "Don't be greedy" "Don't try anything fancy" . . . no wonder we have a shortage of good players who have grown up in the UK!

[moe]

Absolute quality, what kind of fool thinks that putting a young kid under such pressure he feels he has no choice but to abandon a game is alright.
"running round like a little hitler", get a grip he is a child can a grown man feel that insecure in himself as to feel threaterned by a little boys attitude.
As for the ref I hope he continues to ref and if he was awful, who cares as long as he does his best whats the problem. Chances are he is doing more good for that blokes kid by refereeing than his dad is by turning up to watch with his obvious inferiority complex.

[maccaceltic]

I used to go down to Bretton park early for my games with the silver jubilee & watch the kids games.
It used to amaze me the shouting going on by parents, not offensive but the way they would pressure the kids!

Often i would see them training if there was no game & yet again i was amazed at how they would make 7 - 12 year olds run back & forth. there wasent much ball play or technical training, very much on fitness thats why there is so much pressure & hostility because the parents expect then to be as good as pro's sometimes

[Harbs]

A close friend of mine used to ref kids games and he was an excellent ref: he got decent grades every match and still ended up quitting with his final words on the matter being "the parents on the touch line are by far the worst problem in childrens football" its a shame as i really loved playing as a kid and i guess it worked in my favor that my parents rarely saw any of my games.
no pressure as a kid and great bunch of lads. couldnt ask for more at that age!

Raph wanst the most common thing you heard as a kis "c'mon son, better luck next week" or "unlucky kido its the effort that counts" ;)

[moe]

Harbs you are out of order!!!!!
The only thing Raph heard as a kid was...

" it,s ok to want to play with the boys but they won let you if your wearing your sisters clothes now take them off"

Sorry Raph couldn't resist:whs:

[Harbs]

ha bless him, he's a good lad.

[Raph]

A close friend of mine used to ref kids games and he was an excellent ref: he got decent grades every match and still ended up quitting with his final words on the matter being "the parents on the touch line are by far the worst problem in childrens football" its a shame as i really loved playing as a kid and i guess it worked in my favor that my parents rarely saw any of my games.
no pressure as a kid and great bunch of lads. couldnt ask for more at that age!

Raph wanst the most common thing you heard as a kis "c'mon son, better luck next week" or "unlucky kido its the effort that counts" ;)

That's because I played at Eastgate with you Harbs - they were shouting it at you, haha!

(although Moe is right, I did prefer to be with the girls, but who didn't? ;) )

[Old Moultonian]

My son played in the Fenland league at under 10's up until very recently and there were a couple of teams we used to dread playing because of the attitude of some of the adults. This wasn't just limited to spectators either, there were some people managing sides that were intimidating the boys (even some of their own!) and trying to influence young referees. On the whole the vast majority of the kids on the pitch behaved well and played within the rules of the game, but some of the adult's behaviour was disgraceful. There are certain rules which they are supposed to follow (for example anyone watching must stand on the opposite side of the pitch to the team's coaches/managment, no-one should stand behind behind the goals and no-one should enter the field of play) but there's no-one to enforce it. What should happen is that the better behaved parents (who are usually in the majority) should stand up and speak out against the trailer trash. However, we all know what happens everyday in other areas of society when people do that, they generally get hurt.
*bkk*

[Raph]

Is that possibly because a lot of people concerned with the behaviour of a bad minority, are in fact watching, playing or supporting the adult teams? Maybe moving the kids football to Sunday afternoon would help - if some reps from the other adult leagues were invited to support the younger leagues?

[Teilo]

I've ran several junior sides over the past 5 years and have worked my way up to a level 2 coach, I also referee several junior games. Under 9's Boys, Under 15' girls through to Ladies and I am now coaching my sons Under 7's side. The things I have seen from parents and coaches turn my stomach. At under 7's this season we were playing a team who needed a win to achieve a high placing. They equalised to 1-1 and there was almost a riot on the sidelines with the celebrations from the parents. The coach was the same with the fist pumping. They went on to win the game and it was a literally pitch invasion with proud parents swinging their kids around. I had their coach about the manner in which they played the game, and he scarpered off into the circle of his parents for some mutual backslapping. Their kids were fine, but over time they won't be that for sure. We beat the same team eariler in the season, but we accepted the win like they would a defeat, shaking hands and off home to play on the Playstation. I've since been on at the Fenland League about this, and they have now decided that for Under 7's it will be non-competitive. ie no league tables, publishing of results etc. That is progress, but there is still something seriously wrong with our game at the junior levels. In that game, we had a kid make a mistake that led to a goal, because of the reaction from the other team (celebrations), the kid burst into tears. They couldn't care less. We also had a young female ref, she actually did incredibly well considering the pressure she was subjected to.

The idiot posting on the ET website about wanting to see his kid win, win, win. He clearly has little knowledge of the game and of what would be best to help his son develop. The local leagues and the local FA's have a clear role to perform here.

Nothing wrong with trying your best to win games, but at the expense of seeing your weaker players be virtual spectators and denied the opportunity to develop. Sorry for the rant, I feel quite strongly about this.

[Raph]

I agree wholeheartedly with what Teilo has said. When I was 8 or 9, I used to play football on the playground at school, come home from school and play football. All day Saturday and Sunday - on the school pitch at Highlees, Ravensthorpe school, at Bretton Park or in Westwood playing football.

These days, the only opportunity that children have to play (as everywhere else seems to be fenced-off or too deemed too dangerous now) is with their local side. If these attitudes are becoming involved, where will the enjoyment come from? Let them play and enjoy it! Let the kids run with the ball and try a bit of skill - shoot from 20 yards . . . it should be fun.

[moe]

The problem is that parents doing this sort of behavior are only teaching their kids that winning is everything and when these children grow up they will either be over competitive and play the game selfishly and put too much importance on the winning aspect rather than the enjoyment or hate the game completely.
Chances are this attitude drilled into them by their parents at such a young age will eventually transfer into other areas of their lives.
I think that the referee's at that level should be able to send off a parent and the club get the fine for it, watch how quickly the clubs would clamp down on it.

[Raph]

That's a good idea Mickey. I think that I'd like to start to help out with some of the training sessions for the young sides, if anybody out there needs a hand.