To ask if anyone else who has a child that plays football experiences so much twattery?

You wait until your child becomes a referee. The abuse my 14 year old got from adults was appalling.

This. But being in a team can bring great camaraderie ( sometimes in uniting to take the piss out of the types of coaches that are mentioned) a social.skills and a will to improve and win.

Football is full of toxic masculinity. I don't know why there's so much push to get women into football.

This.

You've clearly got a better culture of respectable behaviour there.
It's seems to be the smaller clubs here that are difficult. The bigger clubs are getting bigger as many parents are avoiding the loud, pushy ones. Only trouble is, the bigger clubs have higher subs and less pitch time per player. So the pushy parents put their kids in the smaller, cliquey clubs so they can play whole matches every week and that when the culture gets a bid inbred and moronic.

Just what I see anyway - I'm sure everyone has a different tolerance level. I don't like the culture I see. It upsets a lot of the kids that just want a bit of fun and to play a match.

@ticktickticktickBOOM I'm north west and have done 7 leagues and the theme is always just the odd club which all know about by reputation. Generally in the higher divisions

@Meecrowavay yes over zealous dads & coaches now yelling at kids more (never mums) in league matches. Players literally fouling all the time & just playing like thugs. Not all teams but defo some. Often the ones that also play rugby league. We get at least one injury a match against these teams and squad has had 6 concussions this season that I can think of

True where I am unfortunately @deeprealisation and @RightOnTheEdge

I've been taking the DC's, DSC's and nephews to their matches for over 14 years and we've had fights between kids, fights between parents, fights between parents and ref/linesmen, lots of shouting and swearing, lots of over agitated kids being shouted at by (their own) shouty parents, rasicm, favouritism, bullying.
One team was disbanded due to it.
This is 6 teams, 4 leagues, over 2 counties. I'd say about 60% of parents I've seen are totally over precious about their kids football and make it a bit of a nightmare.

I'm all for the silent support to let kids get on and enjoy it.

What absolute snobby rubbish, maybe you are from an area full of people like this but it's definitely not true for either of my kids' teams.

@deeprealisation not where I am in Scotland. I'm talking specifically about pitchside behaviour of course. Marked difference from football. Are you seeing violence amongst spectators and parents at rugby?

Ah my DS does rugby and is in U7. It's absolutely nothing like this.
At matches we don't keep scores (yet) and we have about 3 mini matches happening at the same time before they all swap over. Mainly so all the kids there actually get to play as some teams are much bigger than others.

Parents are chilled. Dogs sat nicely by owners feet. Smaller kids often playing with a ball off to one side.

But DS is desperate to do football as well and all I remember from being a kid (and watching my brother go through it all) was how stressed everyone was!

Agree there are twattish parents but never seen children playing for teams younger than them. DD is in an under 10 team and at that age some girls look 7 and some look 13, but that's just because puberty is kicking in for some and not others.

No idea where you get this from. I've been involved in grassroots football for years. 95% of clubs and parents are fine. There are incidents but usually it's a minority of teams. Depends how well the league / club / team is run and how much parents are educated around appropriate behaviour. I've watched hundreds of boys & girls play many times a week for years and really bad behaviour is not the norm

Not after U12 in my experience. It's got down right violent

@YaMuvva it's easy to police ages as ALL should have a photo ID team sheet with them every game. All children should be FA registered for this reason. All the coach has to do is ask for copy of team sheet

I think some parents assume that organizing their child's sports activities such as football guarantees a path to becoming a professional. Unfortunately, only .25% of children succeed in reaching that level.
This is what ruins the fun of playing for families who just want to see their children stay healthy and active.

DS18 referees U8s football as a Saturday job. He's been sworn out, shouted at and on a couple of occasions physically threatened by football dads. Fecking under 8s in a lowly league- what on earth is wrong with people?

Football isn’t known as a sport for polite rule following people.

YANBU its awful, my DS gave up age 11 as he couldn't tolerate how awful some of the kids were (encouraged by the hideous parents and even some coaches). He was called all sorts of names, experienced dangerous tackles and physicality. Hideous. We even had one game where the opposition team had two extra players on the pitch and when DS coach noticed and called them out the other coach just laughed, it is win at all costs for some teams and parents! Its ridiculous the way some parents go on, if your kid is still playing in the second team for some local club at the age of 11 they are not going to be the next David Beckham so give it a rest!
My DD on the other hand has had a slightly better experience, I think girls football has not yet reached those awful competitive levels although it is definitely heading that way sadly.

We have silent support weekends occasionally in the league my kids play in and the children all love it. Parents and coaches have to shut up and let them play in peace

This is a brilliant idea

Oh God, I'm reading through this thread with a sinking heart. My youngest DS loves football and is about to start playing for a league team - thankfully my older two boys both loathed it and opted for other sports, so we've never had to go through all this, but DS3 genuinely loves football so we're having to take a deep breath.

DH took him for the first training session and came back quite depressed at all the football-twat-dad yelling encouragement etc from the sidelines (though fully appreciate that there can be as many twat-mums as twat-dads). I have to say I'm dreading the next few years!

There's definitely something about football as a sport that encourages and attracts the lowest-common-denominator kind of person, which is really sad, as football gives pleasure to so many people and can/should be such a positive experience for those who play and watch.

As I have a DD maybe it will be different if she wants to try football.
I've seen how awful the football culture is and find it so tragic that primary school boys become so fixated on it, even in families that are more MC and not bothered about football.

Some of the coaches are awful too. There are some teams I see come up on the fixture list and my heart sinks because I know their attitude and approach to the game is all wrong. They're just kids, let them play football.

We have silent support weekends occasionally in the league my kids play in and the children all love it. Parents and coaches have to shut up and let them play in peace

Our club is OK but the rules I had to sign at the beginning were very very strict - no coaching from the sidelines, children play sport for their enjoyment not yours etc. And teams are evenly matched.

One of the most memorable things about DS's years of football was that his coach, who had taken the job as his son was on the team, went through at least 3 of the mothers of other kids on the team, which meant every team selection seemed to be based on the current status of his love life rather than talent of the boys. It was the most dramatic WhatsApp group I've ever been in.