One mother, a nurse aged 36 who gave her name only as Adele, said: “I agree you can’t have strangers in the school, but children in teams need to learn about crowds who swear at them and give verbal abuse.
By banning parents, it’s not giving them the real experience of the crowd.”This is in response to a head teacher who used the fact that some spectators got ‘aggressive’ (and more importantly, she didn't have enough staff to police events) to ban parents from watching sports days.
Now, yes, I don’t believe in wrapping youngster in cotton wool, but seriously, how can you claim swearing and verbal abuse during sport is something they have to get used to?
Does it ever really happen in anything other than football, anyway?
You know I'm going to agree on this one.
ReplyDeleteI suffered terrible abuse when I was playing croquet.
ReplyDeleteLook John Prescott, if you will invite the BBC round to play...
ReplyDeleteI would, if I ever became one myself, find it somewhat odd if spectators at an equestrian event - that is watching dressage and show jumping - started giving it large with the uncouth verbals. But at football, cricket, rugby I would equally be surprised if no one did. I think this stems from the fact that the "audience" at football, rugby and yes even cricket, tend to consider themselves, in one way or another, unfairly overlooked experts who would in a just world have captained their country playing the sport in question - and there are some who consider themselves capable of having done so in all three sports. So they can get a bit raucous and unseemly, and it doesn't seem to matter whether they are watching the game at a professional level or simply some eight year old's - that inner them just burbles up to the surface and they will quite happily fire their "cathartic" invective at a hapless eight year old. Very sad.
ReplyDeleteApologies - inadvertently - through sloppiness - almost tarred everyone with the same brush - so the sentence "I think" should of course read
ReplyDeleteI think this stems from the fact that some amongst the "audience" at football, rugby and yes even cricket, tend to
I done think you have eny children so what are tou on about you silly cow. Wimmin likw you shuld just shut up and let men tell it like it is. relly you shut up now
ReplyDelete"But at football, cricket, rugby I would equally be surprised if no one did."
ReplyDeleteThat's a terrible shame, when you think about it, isn't it?
"I done think you have eny children..."
I have an education though, which you clearly lack...
It thought it was Austin Mitchell being ironic at 18:51
ReplyDelete