Lancashire football club will stop youth team matches if parents don’t stop abusing referees and coaches
"There's absolutely no need for it at a non-competitive under 11's game"
Last updated 2nd Feb 2022
The chairman of a Lancashire football team is urging parents of their youth teams to stop abusing match officials and their coaches.
Euxton Girls Football Club’s under 11s took to the pitch t the weekend, only for one of the parents of the young girls to start hurling abuse at the official, and then the coach when they tried to interfere.
The Chorley-based football club has said that they’ll stop their matches and eject parents who hurl abuse in front of the young footballers.
"It casts a massive shadow over everything and ruins the whole game for up to 20 kids"
Club chairman Mike Tylor has told Greatest Hits Radio that the abuse must stop.
"There's absolutely no need for it at a non-competitive under 11's game", Mike Taylor said.
"What we're going to start doing is stopping the game if that happens anymore. Either that person can leave or they can agree be quiet and we can restart the game. That is the only action left for us. We will be liaising with other clubs and teams for their view and action on it as well.
"It's particularly shocking because there is no need for it. These kids are just turning up for an hour, enjoy it, then go home again. It casts a massive shadow over everything and ruins the whole game for up to 20 kids and coaches.
"The kids don't like it. They get intimidated and some even want to get off. It upsets them, especially at a young age. They're not there for that, the coaches are there to play, the referees are there to referee and the kids are there to play. That's all there is to it.
"They get to a point where they dread going to games, they don't want to do it and they don't look forward to it. It the coaches don't fancy it and the referees don't fancy it, what chances do the kids have?"
'There is no debate on this'
Following Sunday's incident, Euxton Girls FC have tweeted a club statement to address the issue.
The statement says that any abuse towards young referees who are still learning the game will not be tolerated at the club.
'Going forward, all our team coaches have full authority and backing to stop the matches', the statement reads.
The same rules will also apply to abuse aimed at the coaches.
The statement ends saying: 'Let the kids play, let the coaches coach and let the refs ref.'