Bentleigh Greens soccer club suspends offensive parents

Fed up with “offensive” behaviour, the biggest local soccer club in the country has suspended some parents from attending matches as it adopts a zero-tolerance stance.

Bentleigh Greens supporters watch on at their home ground Kingston Heath.

The biggest soccer club in the country has sent a letter to parents warning them of their behaviour after the club received a number of complaints from fellow parents, opposing clubs and the league.

Bentleigh Greens president Trif Rellos wrote a letter slamming the “poor behaviour” which included “hostile and abusive comments to referees” and “offensive remarks to other parents and spectators.”

The letter also stated that parents had been criticising players from their own team as well as opponents.

“Threats of physical violence” from parents had also “resulted in BGSC issuing a number of warning letters and suspending parents from attending all BGSC fixtured games.”

“An experienced referee recently resigned due to parent behaviour after officiating matches at BGSC.”

Rellos, who was appointed president in 2021 said it was unacceptable and had wide-reaching impacts in the letter.

“It impacts negatively on the players, affects the reputation of the club as a whole putting the club at risk of disciplinary action and fines from Football Victoria.”

He also said that it was “jeopardising relationships with our key stakeholders including sponsors and the local council.”

“More broadly it is a key cause of fewer people wanting to perform coaching and official positions at our club.”

The president went on to warn parents that their actions could go against the law and lead to charges.

Rellos said the club, known for its famous souvlaki, wanted to have a happy and friendly culture.

“Now everybody has to remember, we’re there for the kids, the kids have to come first,” he said.

“If we’re all there for the children and having fun then there’s no problem. People who get caught up in the emotion, they certainly do have problems.

“Do we have some rowdy parents, it’s not just us, a lot of clubs have rowdy parents and we’re trying to crack that out and that’s the bottom line.

“We don’t want to be a club known as thugs and we’re not.

“We’re Bentleigh Greens, we’re the biggest NPL club in Australia. And we want to maintain it, we’ve set a standard and the standard has to stay the way it is.”

Rellos said the letter was a reminder to the parents who were “99 per cent absolutely brilliant”, particularly in a time where referee numbers were dire.

“It’s been hard on the soccer federation because they were something like 300 referees short, and they did send some inexperienced referees and I do feel for them because some of them are kids.

“They come with their parents, they’re driven down there.

“Do they make a bad decision, yes, but at the end of the day if we don’t have referees, there is no game.

“We have to respect that.”

Rellos said soccer parents had to look at the bigger picture and understand how lucky they were.

“They have to remember how lucky they are where they have got healthy fit children coming week in week out and playing the game.

“A lot of parents have got sick children at the children’s hospital and they have to sit there and look at their child while they are sick.

“We have to look at the big picture.

“If they can just enjoy their child play and not worry about the score, the score does not matter, we’re there to have fun.”