We often hear about the banality of American television but, when I was in San Francisco last year, I came across a good daily sports programme.
One day it had an interesting discussion on the behaviour of parents when watching their offspring play sport. This was
inspired by an incident where three parents were being charged after assaulting a referee at a soccer game. We often think of America as a desert where our sort of football is concerned but there are lots of games played at junior level.
On one side of the television debate was the secretary of the Alliance for Youth Sports whose tales reminded me of some of the stories we hear in this country about the behaviour of parents at football matches. In America the desire to succeed is perhaps greater than it is here and that pressure is transmitted to the children. The cold fact is, it is having the opposite effect.
Research has shown that 70% of children in the states drop out of sport after the age of thirteen because it is no longer fun. One young boy, asked why he had forsaken football for snowboarding, said that it was because his dad didn't know anything about snowboarding and it was too cold for him to come and watch. In Texas, apparently, parents have to attend a three-hour course if they want to attend games.
I was reminded of this last week when I read that the National Council for School Sports has published its own code of conduct aimed at curbing the worst aspects of vocal parents. Parents are warned that, if they persist in over-eager coaching, the teacher has the right to ask them to leave. If they fail to adhere to the rules, their children could be dropped from the team. The idea is to create conditions in which youngsters can express themselves and not be frightened of
making mistakes. In Holland some junior games are already played with parents forced to watch in silence.
I have been at a number of youth matches this season and by and large the reaction of coaches has been good. I have heard players being told to behave, not to get into dispute with the referee and generally to enjoy the game for what it is. That is not to say everything is rosy. Parents and coaches still let themselves down by vocal abuse of the referee when decisions go against them.
This affects refereeing in the youth competitions which are the starting ground for young referees, boys and girls who qualify from the age of fourteen and want to make refereeing their hobby. The behaviour of parents so often forces them to give up on this dream before they have really got started.
At Charlton Athletic they have an Academy for Referees. Rather than let them be exposed to the hostility of parents, they take young referees from fourteen to eighteen and use them on the games of Charlton Athletic Academy sides. In Bedfordshire they have a similar scheme linked with Luton and Arsenal Academies. It is hoped that by the time they are eighteen they will be ready to officiate in men's football having been well trained and avoided the tongue lashing from parents. This of course does have the effect of robbing youth football of its young referees, something mouthy parents should think about.
There is one other more serious aspect to take into consideration. When I took my referee instructor's course with the FA, I also had to take a separate course on Child Protection. Last year I attended an update and we were told that young people under 18 have the right to be protected from verbal abuse. This means anyone shouting insults at referees under that age could be breaking the law.
Dick Sawdon Smith