‘This is just a game of kids’ footy’: Umpires, SANFL fed up with abusive, badly-behaved parents
Abuse against umpires, carpark confrontations and clashes between parents and players have sparked calls for calm in junior sport as a frustrating season frays tempers on the sidelines.
SA News
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Parents are being called out for their threatening, abusive and intimidating behaviour on the sidelines of junior football with umpires refusing to officiate at some games and the SANFL warning the unruly conduct won’t be tolerated.
There are reports of parents approaching umpires, including some who are just teenagers, in the car park or outside of changerooms after games to verbally abuse them.
While at least one match had to be abandoned when angry parents started brawling on the sidelines.
So concerned by the actions of some parents, the league has taken the unusual step of issuing an update to community clubs asking the message around appropriate parental behaviour be shared ahead of the final games in the regular season, this weekend and next.
“The increase in officials, parents, spectators being abusive of one another and towards umpires is close to an all-time high,” the update from the juniors’ competition management said.
“We understand people are frustrated, it’s been a shocking year all around but can we please just take a step back and realise how lucky we are and that this is just a game of football, kids’ football for that matter?”
SANFL Juniors Manager Geoff Riddle said it was saddening the bad behaviour of a few was impacting on the experience for others, particularly when grassroots volunteers had worked so hard to help create a successful 2020 season for the state’s 12,380 junior players.
“I am disappointed the minority are letting down the people who are doing the right thing and in particular, the kids who just want to play – you see on the kids’ faces their joy at being back on the footy field,” he said.
“The work that has been put on our volunteers this year is just enormous.”
Mr Riddle said of major concern was the “severity”, rather than volume, of issues being reported.
“We’ve had reports of parents approaching umpires, some of which are only young teenagers, in the car park or outside of change rooms after games to verbally abuse them,” he said.
“One match was even called off early because parents from both sides were abusing one another and the situation flared up on the sidelines.”
According to one post shared on an online footy forum, parents followed a young opposition player into the changerooms after a suburban night match last Friday to abuse him about a tackle he’d made during the game.
It was claimed the junior was“manhandled” by the adults, sworn at and called a derogatory name.
The situation at some clubs and venues had become so bad, umpires were refusing to referee at these locations, Mr Riddle said.
“They are feeling intimidated and we have a couple umpires who have simply stopped umpiring because of it, which is really disappointing,” he said.
“We have zero tolerance for this kind of behaviour and take it extremely seriously.
“We can ban parents from watching kids’ matches but the issue is how do we police it? This is something that really needs to be club driven.”
The problem isn’t confined to spectators with some parent officials also having been suspended – including goal umpires, runners and team managers – for “abusive behaviour towards players and umpires”.
Mr Riddle said he appreciated it had been a difficult year due to the stresses of COVID-19 but urged mums and dads to remember their positions as role models.
“We feel people are taking out their anger at their children’s sport on the weekend where they seem to think that’s okay,” he said.
“(But) please just enjoy watching your kids play sport because, given the current climate and environment, we’re in a very privileged position to be playing community sport here in South Australia which shouldn’t be taken for granted.”
At a club level
Russell Stanborough has been the junior co-ordinator at Marion Football Club for the past seven years and says 2020 has presented some challenges.
But he hoped the players – and their parents – could comes to terms with the end-of-season changes to ensure it was a success.
This season’s modified finals format meant that, in most age groups, only the top two sides would play off in 2020, upping the competition and urgency of a win for some.
“So even if a team has only lost a couple of games for the entire season, they may not get a chance to play in finals,” Mr Stanborough said.
“I think sometimes it’s the parents, rather than kids, who care most about this.” He said his Sturt Road-based club, recognised by the SANFL as one doing the right thing to educate its parents, worked hard to follow the league’s codes of conduct around spectator and parental behaviour.
“Parents know the expectations and if we see breaches, we can let them know about it and remind them of what they’ve agreed to do,” he said.
And in a season like no other, Mr Stanborough paid tribute to his club’s volunteers, such as under-9s coach Brett Fishpool.
“Due to COVID, there has been a lot more work for volunteers this season and I think some are feeling a bit burnt out,” he said.
“The workloads on volunteers in clubs is huge at the best of times.”
Football SA’s football operations general manager Wendy Carter said while some spectators had been banned from attending soccer games in 2020, the incidence of bad behaviour hadn’t increased on previous years.
“Unfortunately some spectators do cross the line and do not realise the impact that they can have on referees, especially young referees … bans can range from one game through to the season depending upon the nature of the report,” she said.
Basketball SA CEO Phil Sinnott said his sport also hadn’t experienced an increase in reports of bad behaviour this season but acknowledged spectator numbers were less given COVID restrictions.
“(However), people seem to be really appreciating the opportunity that we are back playing and they are respecting and following the guidelines that have been put in place,” he said.