AFC Rushden & Diamonds Programmes V St Andrews 18/01/2014 | Page 18

RUSH V ST ANDREWS PROG

16/1/14

07:24

Page 18

COMMUNITYCORNER
WITH THE WEATHER WIPING OUT ALL BUT ONE OF OUR COMMUNITY TEAMS’ MATCHES
SO FAR THIS YEAR MY PLANS TO BRING YOU UP TO DATE WITH OUR TEAMS’ PROGRESS
HAVE BEEN RATHER SCUPPERED.
So I’ve had to think of something else.
Jim White, who wrote a marvellous book about the trials and tribulations of running a kids football
team called ìYou’ll Win Nothing With Kidsî published an article in the Telegraph (Daily, not Northants)
which basically calls for parents to be banned from school sports matches.
I’ve been involved in school sports both as a participant, many years ago (the Romans knew not to mess
with Irchy boys), a coach and a parent, and as the kids get older the parental interest wanes and there
aren’t many parents to ban. I’m not surprised by this, as the children enter school there are loads of
ëfirsts’ which most parents want to be at.
The same is true with club football, go to an Under 7 or Under 8 match and here will be fifty or sixty people
on the touchline. Go to most Under 15 and Under 16 matches and there are more people on the pitch
than surrounding it.
I’m all for parents attending matches, I think it’s important that parents support their children and there’s
no way I would have wanted to miss the sight of my boys scoring goals, or making a goal saving tackle
and the look of delight on their faces when they came off the field.
Where it all starts to go a bit pear-shaped is when parents think that it is OK to coach their kids, or even
other kids as well. It’s not. If you do it, stop it now - you are not helping.
We had an incident earlier in the season when I was looking after the Under 7 Bedlam team and one
of the lad’s uncles was encouraging his nephew to ìup the field, get a goalî. I had asked the boy to
play in defence, which at Under 7 is a loose term meaning don’t stand on the opposition goalie’s
toes. The Y