Youth football games for 750 children cancelled over bad behaviour

About 750 children across the Central Belt will be on the sidelines this weekend after youth football fixtures were suspended due to bad behaviour.

The Central Scotland Football Association announced that its Fun 4 games, for players aged between five and six, would not go ahead after a lack of discipline from adults and children at last weekend's event.

Parents, coaches and referees have told BBC Scotland News that incidents like this have become common across grassroots football.

One parent whose five-year-old son plays in the cancelled fixtures said children's football games had turned into "intimidating environments".

He said: "If you go along to any venue hosting youth football this weekend, I can guarantee you will see some form of violence or intimidation.

"You'll see adults shouting in the face of children, berating them. We are losing so many kids from football because of it."

The parent, who also coaches a team of nine-year-olds in the north of Glasgow, said the problem was widespread, he often felt "intimidated" at games, and had incidences of players tell him they were "fearful".

"It's only going to get worse unless something is done about it," he said. "I'm not being dramatic when I say this could lead to fatalities, one punch thrown in the wrong direction is all it takes."

He called on regional boards, set up by the Scottish Youth Football Association, to take action such as spot-checking games and implementing punishments as a deterrent to bad behaviour.

In an email to team managers seen by the BBC, the Central Scotland Football Association said it had accrued a "long list" of discipline issues "which have no place in grassroots football".

Gary McRae, a youth football referee in the East Renfrewshire area, said the lack of discipline often started with the coaches then parents on the sidelines.

He told BBC Radio's Lunchtime Live programme: "I've seen it all unfortunately. Physical violence, verbal violence, sexism, racism, sectarianism the list goes on.

"It really does begin at a young age and goes up to the highest echelons of the game. The younger the game the more problems you are likely to encounter."

He said a small minority of the adults involved were making the games too competitive which was rubbing off on the kids.

"Instead of the emphasis being on the fun element, the coaches are making it a 'must win' environment and the fun is being lost," he added.

The group also said it was not just the adults who were behaving poorly, with more than 70 red cards given out to junior players in the space of a week.

Paul Reddish, a volunteer coach at Edinburgh United, said the worst incident he had seen involved his own son.

He told BBC Scotland News: "A kid came in and kicked him studs up in the back. It was pretty horrific and he didn't want to play for a while after that."

He said that while his experience of youth football had been mainly positive "discipline is becoming a rising problem."

He added: "Sport is such a good tool for teaching skills around discipline but they have to be taught.

"We have to look at the people who are leading the teams, we can't be blaming five and six-year-olds."

A spokesperson for the Scottish Youth Football Association said "disciplinary proceedings against those involved" last weekend were due to begin.

The spokesperson said: "Around 750 children will not play football this weekend due to the poor behaviour.

"Everyone in and around youth football has a responsibility to set the highest standards of behaviour for our young players."

A spokesperson for the Central Scotland said they were following processes and would not comment.