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Parent’s bad behaviour at junior football matches may be one of the reasons for the lack of talent coming through the ranks in English football. Parents becoming premier league style managers on a Sunday morning many that have not even played the game and who offer ill-advised advice and often abuse from the touchlines of local children’s football matches. Parents can provide a positive influence if basic praise for children is the main driving force at junior matches.

The Guardian recently published a damning article about aggressive parents in local Sunday football.– and every adult attending local junior football would be advised to read it.

The Football Association revealed that there were 4,000 cases of adult misconduct at youth football matches in 2013. This misconduct was mainly unsolicited coaching advice to outright abusive and threatening behaviour and allegations of assault.

Parents can enhance any young budding soccer star but only if they play a constructive, supportive role that shows respect to coaches, players and other parents.

Junior Football relies on these unsung volunteers, and the game as a whole owes a great deal to the work parents do week in week out for delivering children’s football in the UK. Many forget the leagues they play in also have many adults giving up their spare time to organize fixtures, officials, cup competitions and deal with misconduct and these people rarely get a pat on the back.

Reports about unfortunately ask advice from names in the game professional footballers who are divorced from the game at the grass root level. The game is a contact sport, a passionate sport and it needs to retain this otherwise it will lose its soul.

May be the governing body will set up a body from the people running grass roots junior football and then a better understanding may be presented.

Football is a great game …football has and will always produce conflict. As a player who played through the fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties when the game was much more physical it is a fact that when you get older the results that seemed so important at the time fade into history. No one remembers who won the cup or who won the league and it is at this time that the real lack of importance football match result are in life.

Football however is very important it provides passion, it provides work, it entertains, football educates and football provides lifelong friends.