A recent announcement by the Gap Football Club has had a polarizing effect. The Gap Football Club on Brisbane's Northside has become the first junior sports club in Australia to ban spectators from making a sound on the sidelines when they introduced the "Silent Sidelines Policy".
Reportedly the club has had trouble with abusive parents & spectators on the sideline during junior games and felt it was necessary to take dramatic action to curtail it. Whilst it is great to see action taken to punish those who take junior competition too seriously and feel it is their right to abuse kids who don't meet their standards, is this really the answer?
Many have debated that it is a great policy and kids should be allowed to just play without any interference from the sidelines. However, do they realise they also support the idea of kids who do a great feat on the field in front of their parents to receive no cheers of support? This is the sort of policy that comes from the same vain of thinking that every child gets a prize and no one keeps score in the game.
This action should also be a criticism of how clubs and associations are handling abusive parents who cross the line. Most, if not all, clubs and associations have regulations that entitle them to ban parents who are abusive from the sidelines or take even more drastic action and ban their children from playing. This may be a harsh step but the first step is always the hardest and why it is rarely taken.
Officials and parents will argue that by taking this action they are only hurting the child but is there another angle to it? Of course there is, you will find that most parents who cause problems have a child who is one of the best of the field and know it. If they are abusive on the sidelines, you can also guarantee they intimidate the coach and club officials and threaten to go to another club if action is taken. Then it comes down to how much the club wants to win and the financial side of losing a player against taking the right action.
I can understand then need to help kids enjoy sport and encourage them more and as a grassroots coach it is definitely about just getting them out there to play. It does get to a point though where sport becomes competition and it is about winning. Even when the kids are play in non-competition and you tell them there is no winner, they still keep score and they know the different feeling between winning and losing. It is also a valuable learning lesson to take into life. Picture the kids who struggles every week and that one week where he has a great game and scores his first goal only to look at the sideline and hear nothing. Nothing!
Children need our support and they want to hear it, if you are unable to control it then you do not deserve the opportunity to watch your children until you can. If you are unable to control the parents and are intimidated by them, do not punish the children. Stop punishing the majority who do the right thing and by default protect the minority.
If this was a country wide policy it would be impossible to enforce. Also at what age are you suddenly allowed to cheer? If the coaches are the only ones allowed to talk are they also censored too? Does everything said have to be over positive or is constructive criticism allowed. The may be silent on the sidelines in The Gap, but you will never keep this parent silent in their support for kids who are out their having a go and enjoying it.
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