Everyone's a loser as match cancelled

Published 28 May 2010 14:52 3 Comments

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NATIONAL football chiefs have forced two local tournaments for kids to be cancelled - for fears someone might WIN.

The crackpot campaign by the Scottish Football Association prevents any of its officers and coaches becoming involved in competitive games for primary school players.

And the lack of support from the region's football development officers, who are jointly funded by the SFA and Scottish Borders Council, led to the Tweeddale Inter School Tournament and the Broughton Bash both being called off earlier this month.

Furious parents and teachers have hit out as their children's dreams of cup glory were left in tatters.

Parent Fiona Pagett from Broughton told us: "Without the support of the football officers there wasn't enough staff to host the tournaments.

"The children were all looking forward to playing - this is political correctness gone mad. All because some children would win a trophy and others wouldn't."

The local authority employs several sports development officers who are partly funded by their national sporting bodies.

But the clash of competition rules is restricted only to the beautiful game.

Councillor Catriona Bhatia, spokeswoman for education, said: "I totally support the parents.

"The SFA's stand is crazy - these tournaments have been running for years and shouldn't have been cancelled at the last minute.

"Life is about winning and losing, something children should learn. It is very unfortunate the way this has come about."

The Tweeddale Inter School tournament, which also involves netball, has been staged since 1934.

Although the Broughton Bash looks unlikely to be rescheduled this year a new date of June 15 has been set for the Tweeddale tournament, which will be held at Priorsford Primary.

But there won't be any football development officers on hand for the matches.

Education director Glenn Rodger told us: "We have a partnership with the SFA and, as with other target sports, we aim to deliver these sports in line with best practice recommended by the respective Scottish governing bodies.

"In this case, the SFA promotes primary school-aged football which allows players to develop in a fun and friendly environment where they can express themselves fully without the focus on the result."

SFA regional manager Mark Munro reacted to the outrage by issuing his organisation's Schools Football mandate. It read: "Research demonstrates quite clearly that when young children participate in sport where a trophy is on offer for the winner, this can often affect their development in a negative manner and curtail their learning development.

"Research also demonstrates that the incorporation of trophies in games has an effect on the coach and how they communicate/behave towards players as well as the effects on supporters, all in a non-conductive manner."

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Dave Brunton
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May 28, 17:51
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I think its time the SFA got their heads out of the sand. It is no wonder that Scotland failed to qualify for yet another major soccer tournament with men like Mr.Munro at the helm.

I feel and I think it has been proven by the Canadian Ice Hockey model that competition from an early age if handled correctly is very healthy for the development of a sport.

The alternative is that these children will now sit home rather than be out developing their skills.It would be interesting to know what the SFA paid for this "research".

Yours Truly

Dave Brunton

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JT Bairn
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May 31, 16:24
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There's plenty of evidence to support more recent theories that competitive behavioural patterns are not innate, but rather instilled by early developmental cognition, that is to say, being encouraged by adults. It is this same competitive behaviour that lies at the root of so many social ills and negative behavioural traits. It may be healthy for the development of a sport, but that doesn't necessarily make it healthy for the individual participants. Why not actually give the theory a test, and allow the SFA to go ahead with what I doubt very much is a hastily conceived and glibly proposed plan. I'm sure they are keen to see an improvement in the Scottish game as much as anyone; doesn't that suggest to you that they're trying something new because it is their best strategy in light of the best evidence available to them?

I'm also of the opinion that any criticism of change, that begins or ends with the phrase ' it's political correctness gone mad...' almost certainly comes from the mouth of someone with a firmly closed mind. Still at least Catriona Bhatia has found herself another bandwagon to take her mind off the fact that 36000 other people in the constituency think she's as much of a crowd-pleasing flip-flopper as I do.

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Garry Brown
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Jun 14, 13:58
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Am I right in assuming that football "matches" with teams of primary school children have no goalies and the goals boarded up, lest one team scores more than the other and so "wins"? Fun this may well be, and admirable the level of ball skills developed, but it lacks the concept of attack and defence which will have to be met at some time. Life, and real football, involves more than running around pleasurably.

Re. the SFA's motives, there's lots of empirical evidence that no, they don't usually act in a manner that is best on any criterion.

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