AIBU to refuse a Year 9 staying up for the 1am match?

Well he will be 18 or near enough next time so you wont stop him then, if we get this far again.
But he will always know you stopped him at 14.

Or end up in the school medical room
whining that you're tired and light-headed and can't focus...

...can you tell I'm really looking forward to work tomorrow 🤦🏼‍♀️🙄

He's 14! Jeez just let him. It's one night and we're nearly at the end of term. You're being very controlling and precious here.
What is his normal bedtime if he needs 11 hours?!!

"I'm a relaxed parent..."

Yeah right. I've read your posts and you are anything but relaxed if you're not getting agreement.
Also, good luck with that with a 14 yo, it's only just beginning.

YABU. Let him watch it. It matters to him.

IMO:

• It would be unreasonable to assume you can control when your child sleeps.
• It wouldn't be unreasonable to point out that being tired due to choosing to stay up / get up in the middle of the night to watch a match isn't the same as being sick.
• It wouldn't be unreasonable to tell them you won't make excuses for them at school.
• It wouldn't be unreasonable to remind a teenager who needs a lot of sleep to be able to function (growth spurt?) that this is the case.

I'm going to watch in the morning after a normal night of sleep. I don't see the point of denying myself sleep and feeling rubbish at work all day when it'd just be us at home watching anyway, since I'm not going to be taking my kids to a pub to watch nor inviting the neighbours round. My kids are welcome to do as they will do, and they've decided they'll join me and my husband and watch in the morning after a decent sleep.

I don't see the hype about it all tbh, maybe if it was the final I would let my year 9 and year 6 watch it if they were really keen, but otherwise probably not.

Thankfully nobody in my house is in the least bit interested (except DH but even he said he's not staying up).

If, as seems likely, most of the kids in his class are staying up, it makes no difference to his education if he does likewise. It's not as if it's the portal to a nocturnal existence.
No day off though. I let mine do the odd late night thing when they were at school, and while it was allowed as a one-off, they had to accept the consequences of missed sleep rather than catch up when they were meant to be elsewhere.
Can't help pitying the teachers.

There we are then.
And what about the matter in the hand - the match? What’s the verdict?

This is another great idea. Phone off so no whatsapp messages! There are a few solutions that will work for most kids.

OK, I understand about the PP's post.
I still don't agree that this is so massively important. If they were making a family night of it and he was excluded, I'd get it more, but they aren't. And I think more parents than you think won't be making a thing of it at home, so won't see why it's any different to the other things there's been hype over, or all their mates have been allowed to do, and will say no.

Like I said, I still think he should be allowed to watch it, not least because by the sounds of it, he won't actually manage to wake up or stay up for it, but I don't think it's this huge event he can't possibly be expected to miss that some posters (not you in particular) are making this out to be.

This is it. Bed straight after tea and sleep til 1, back to bed at 3 to get a few more hours. Will be tired but functioning, early bed on Monday. It’s not that much of a big deal. Plenty people have a few hours awake in the night every now and then! I’m sure he’d survive jet lag etc.

I'd still send to school whatever you do, as they'll survive one night just fine with little sleep and will just catch up across the week surely.

Oh god yeah can't do that, it'll mess with his wake windows 🙄

Could your DS go to bed early and set an alarm to get up at 1:00?

With my year 6 (11 years old) we are recording it and then getting her up at 5:30 to watch it before school.

Just let him. But also send him in

Sorry only just seen that DH won’t be watching it. But my point still stands, let the kid stay up, it will be a special memory for him.

I'd let him watch it and probably phone off sick tbh. My mum was really, really strict and formal when I was school age. I was never allowed to parties unless she'd spoken to the host's parents (so I never went to parties because I would never have lived that down lol) and I wasn't really allowed to stay over and rarely had friends to stay etc. But every once in a while she'd just take me out for the day instead of going to school and they are SUCH special memories. I also got v good grades, so it definitely didn't impact my schooling.

I dont like sports or football but every 4 years here i am.

Let him stay up. When he’s older he won’t remember the day he spent at school tired, but he will remember the special time he spent doing something different and exciting with his dad.

Op just this once be a cool mum let him sit up and have the next day off.
Once every 4 year.

❤️ (ps let him stay up) x

I agree with the first ten words.