Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Bad Behaviour Rising in Grass Roots Football
CHILDREN’S football matches in Cardiff are being spoiled by bad behaviour by parents and coaches, it has been claimed.
Cardiff and District League Secretary Robin Davies said there had even been allegations of racial abuse this season- something that has never happened before.
Mr Davies said: "We've got an ongoing problem with the attitude of parents and the attitude of managers, which rubs off on the kids.
"Gradually, behaviour has been deteriorating over the years. I've been here since 1982 and we didn't have these problems then."
My view is there are lots of very positive reasons for getting children involved in football. It’s certainly better for their health than sitting around in front of some computer console playing a simulated version of the beautiful game.
At its best, football can teach children a huge amount about life: The importance of teamwork, having self-discipline, showing respect to authority, to take pride in victory, and, yes, to accept that you can’t win every time.
Of course, one of the big advantages of getting plenty of children involved in football is that from time to time we’ll come across a really gifted player who will go on to grace the professional ranks.
As far as I’m concerned, the blame for these horrid accounts of bad behaviour lies squarely with the adults. They are the ones who are supposed to set the example for the youngsters to follow. Bad language, bad tempers and lack of self-control are all negative qualities and the adults do themselves no favours by exercising these things in front of children.
I’ve seen plenty of this sort of thing to know what’s going on. The coaches are usually the parents of one of the children playing. When they were younger, they wanted to be a professional player, but weren’t good enough. Now they’re older, they think they’re God’s gift to management and coaching, even though there’s no evidence to suggest they know the first thing about either. As with many parents, they’re trying to live their own dreams through their children, which is rarely a good idea.
One Cardiff club's secretary, who did not want to be identified, said one of his coaches tried to speak to the other team's coach about some of their tackles.
"The other coach got his hair off and shoved him in the chest for no reason.
"When he was shoved, one of their club's parents came over rapidly across the pitch shouting 'I'll knock your effing head off'.
"Not happy saying it once, he came charging up and said it again within full earshot of the kids and the parents. It shouldn't have happened."
This sort of behaviour is bang out of order- what does it teach children about how to deal with differences of opinion?
Brian Clough once said that one way you could clean up bad behaviour on the pitch from players was to start fining the managers every time one of their players stepped out of line.
It sounds drastic, but applying these principles at grass roots level may be the most efficient way of sorting this problem out.
The referee should be made to give a match report every time. In it should include any instances of foul or abusive language or behaviour from a coach or parent. The club should then face an automatic £1,000 fine. Failure to pay up should result in the team being excluded from the league for a year, and when they return, they should do so in the bottom tier.
Football has the ability to teach children many good habits. Let’s not see the game ruined by adults who put their own egos and fickle ambitions before the children’s best interests.
Cardiff and District League Secretary Robin Davies said there had even been allegations of racial abuse this season- something that has never happened before.
Mr Davies said: "We've got an ongoing problem with the attitude of parents and the attitude of managers, which rubs off on the kids.
"Gradually, behaviour has been deteriorating over the years. I've been here since 1982 and we didn't have these problems then."
My view is there are lots of very positive reasons for getting children involved in football. It’s certainly better for their health than sitting around in front of some computer console playing a simulated version of the beautiful game.
At its best, football can teach children a huge amount about life: The importance of teamwork, having self-discipline, showing respect to authority, to take pride in victory, and, yes, to accept that you can’t win every time.
Of course, one of the big advantages of getting plenty of children involved in football is that from time to time we’ll come across a really gifted player who will go on to grace the professional ranks.
As far as I’m concerned, the blame for these horrid accounts of bad behaviour lies squarely with the adults. They are the ones who are supposed to set the example for the youngsters to follow. Bad language, bad tempers and lack of self-control are all negative qualities and the adults do themselves no favours by exercising these things in front of children.
I’ve seen plenty of this sort of thing to know what’s going on. The coaches are usually the parents of one of the children playing. When they were younger, they wanted to be a professional player, but weren’t good enough. Now they’re older, they think they’re God’s gift to management and coaching, even though there’s no evidence to suggest they know the first thing about either. As with many parents, they’re trying to live their own dreams through their children, which is rarely a good idea.
One Cardiff club's secretary, who did not want to be identified, said one of his coaches tried to speak to the other team's coach about some of their tackles.
"The other coach got his hair off and shoved him in the chest for no reason.
"When he was shoved, one of their club's parents came over rapidly across the pitch shouting 'I'll knock your effing head off'.
"Not happy saying it once, he came charging up and said it again within full earshot of the kids and the parents. It shouldn't have happened."
This sort of behaviour is bang out of order- what does it teach children about how to deal with differences of opinion?
Brian Clough once said that one way you could clean up bad behaviour on the pitch from players was to start fining the managers every time one of their players stepped out of line.
It sounds drastic, but applying these principles at grass roots level may be the most efficient way of sorting this problem out.
The referee should be made to give a match report every time. In it should include any instances of foul or abusive language or behaviour from a coach or parent. The club should then face an automatic £1,000 fine. Failure to pay up should result in the team being excluded from the league for a year, and when they return, they should do so in the bottom tier.
Football has the ability to teach children many good habits. Let’s not see the game ruined by adults who put their own egos and fickle ambitions before the children’s best interests.
