While I was watching Callum play soccer this morning I witnessed something that has left me a little shellshocked. There were two under 8's teams playing on the field next to us. There was some intention tripping of other players. Not the 'I went for the ball and miss and accidently got you instead' sort but the 'I went for you and I got you and you hit the ground' kind. Not nice.
The referee wasn't doing anything about it and the coach of the team who was getting tripped was going crazy. Yelling, screaming, demanding something be done. Fair enough. If Callum was being repeatedly tripped I'd be upset too. But then at halftime instead of providing a calming influence to his players the coach told them that if their opponents were going to play rough then so should they. He told them to get in there and trip the opposition too. It stunned me. This is under 8's soccer - not adult rugby league (and even then I don't agree with the way players treat each other).
Fortunately by this stage there were ground officials on the field who cancelled the whole match citing that protection of the players was their foremost goal and that this was the only way to ensure it. Cue more yelling, more screaming and more bad role modelling for a bunch of 7 and 8 year old kids.
And now add in that the coach is the father of one of the kids that Callum regularly plays with at school. :S
2 comments:
My daughter played soccer from 4 til 14 and I saw my share of bad sportsmanship and down right dangerous play. It's just a game and these are children! Totally unacceptable behavior. Hopefully the league will take closer control of the situation before someone gets hurt.
eeeek!! :(
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