No More clapping/cheering at Rugby games......

I came across this article in an Auckland newspaper, can anyone in England say if its true or not.

If they tried to impose "Silent Sundays" here, then all games would get moved to Saturday.



http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=11391332

The problem is not the clapping and cheering, it is the constant abuse and criticism. That article has taken a very strange slant on the real story.

It is becoming extremely difficult to find anyone willing to ref junior matches, while many kids stop playing because of the attitude of parents and coaches. 10 year old kids should be able to enjoy the game, not be verbally abused and bullied from the sidelines.

There was an interesting interview on the radio about this last week. LT has it right, that the main motivation is to improve the respect for match officials from those on the sidelines - not that rugby (yet) has a big problem in this regard compared to youth and Sunday league football (where these issues are appalling), but the initiative is to get parents and coaches to think a bit more and cause fewer problems for the officials and so nip any potential issues in the bud.

A secondary effect is that players will have to think for themselves rather than rely on the coach shouting instructions from the sidelines. Perhaps something that our more senior sides could benefit from...

dummy_half wrote:There was an interesting interview on the radio about this last week. LT has it right, that the main motivation is to improve the respect for match officials from those on the sidelines - not that rugby (yet) has a big problem in this regard compared to youth and Sunday league football (where these issues are appalling), but the initiative is to get parents and coaches to think a bit more and cause fewer problems for the officials and so nip any potential issues in the bud.

A secondary effect is that players will have to think for themselves rather than rely on the coach shouting instructions from the sidelines. Perhaps something that our more senior sides could benefit from...

I absolutely agree, dummers..... in rugby we don't have anything remotely resembling the problem that youth football has with the "Touchline Terrorists".  

The problem, as I see it, is the pushy parents who are acting out their own failed sporting lives via their children.  They feel they're motivating their children and teaching them to be "winners", so that they might develop into better players as they grow older, but that's just wrong on every single level.

True story:   I once refereed a youth football match back when I was a newly qualified class three'er (I refereed football for 7 years before I gave it up) and during a break in play a youngster, no more than eleven or twelve, came over and asked me what would happen if he punched or kicked an opponent.   I said I would have little option but to send him off.   When play resumed, he went to the nearest opponent and simply hacked him down.   As I gave him the red card his action deserved, he said  "Sorry. I just don't want to be here but my dad'll kill me if I say I don't want to play."

He got himself sent off just to get off the field in a way that wouldn't bring his father down on his head.

At half time, his red faced, almost apoplectic father had to be dragged away from me by other parents.  He was raging with stuff like "You're ruining my boy's career".  It was ludicrous, but I found out as I progressed in refereeing that it was not an isolated incident.  This sort of thing goes on in youth football all over the country, every week.  In all probability, anybody who has refereed football at youth level could tell a similar story.

So many youngsters just don't want to play football, but they're either terrified of their fathers, or simply play because they don't want to feel like they're letting him down.  

OK, story over.

The point is, we have to safeguard rugby from this sort of mentality getting a serious grip in the way it has in football.   Rugby should be open to youngsters who want to join in and play the wonderful game.   We want to have a game where young people can flourish and yes, even possibly progress through the age groups and make their way in the game.  

What we don't want is youngsters who play because they're pressured into it by pushy parents.   Clubs need to be on the lookout for this sort of thing manifesting itself and find a policy that will be more in the interest of the children than in that of the club or the parents.

Reminds me of the South Park episode, where all of the kids are trying to lose Baseball games so they don't qualify for the playoffs and have to play during the summer.