$50,000 plan to fix feral sideline parents at kids’ sport

Parents who hurl abuse - or punches - from the sidelines at kids sport are going under the microscope as Adelaide researchers try to find out why they turn nasty.

Parents hurling abuse and even punches on the sidelines of children’s sport are the focus of a $50,000 plan to figure out why they are so feral and then try to curb their behaviour.

It comes amid the fallout of a brawl at a junior girls’ football match this month resulting in two suspensions, a man being charged with assault and football authorities appealing for better behaviour from parents.

Researchers say the plan follows growing concern among families about inappropriate conduct at junior sporting events.

Flinders University researchers hope to help establish new protocols to improve how community sport clubs deal with parents to ensure positive behaviour while maximising involvement in their children’s activities.

Dr Sam Elliott from Flinders University’s Centre for Sport, Health, Activity, Performance and Exercise

The study, funded by a $50,000 grant from the Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing and the university, will include focus groups, individual interviews and field observations, as well as monitoring sport settings.

Dr Sam Elliott, from the university’s Centre for Sport, Health, Activity, Performance and Exercise, says the project aims to explore how organised youth sports engage parents and then develop protocols for improving behaviour.

“Parents can represent a risk to youth sport by exerting pressure on children to win, holding unrealistic expectations, engaging in conflicting behaviour with coaches and verbally abusing other child participants,” he said.

“This will be the first international study of its kind and will generate knowledge for improving parental involvement in youth sport.

“The research will place Australia at the forefront of practice in maximising participation through enhancing the quality of parental involvement.”

Recreation, Sport and Racing Minister Corey Wingard said it is important to look into why bad behaviour occurs and come up with ways to address it.

“Sadly there is a minority in our community that are tarnishing children’s sport with bad behaviour and irresponsible actions on the sidelines,” he said.

“We should be doing everything we can to encourage participation in sport and creating a safe environment in which our kids can be active.”