Footie boy: Don’t bully us
Terrified 9-year-old left in tears after verbal abuse from an opposition parent
Aterrified 9-year-old football player ran from the field crying after being verbally abused by an opposition player’s parent who threatened to “rip” the child from the pitch.
The parent’s club has apologised “unreservedly” for the incident and begun an investigation.
But Cailean Hamilton, who was scared of being hurt by the irate father, says he just wants to play the game with “positive support and no negative vibes” from spectators.
Cailean was pulled aside by the dad before the final of an Under 10 tournament in Birkenhead at the weekend and given some stern words about a previous incident.
“I was playing with my friends when he came up to me before the game to warn me to not go near his son,” he said.
“I was so scared when he was telling me he would rip me off the pitch and I ran to Dad crying.”
Cailean was shaken by the incident, as were his Fencibles United AFC team, who ended up losing the match to East Coast Bays AF.
“I was too scared to tackle [the
other player] during the game and couldn’t play the game properly,” Cailean told the Herald.
Cailean’s mother, Katie Hamilton, said the teams had a friendly match seven months ago. The parent from East Coast Bays said Cailean “nearly elbowed” his son during the game.
“He’s been saving this up for seven months till he got to this tournament and attacked my son about it. We don’t even remember it happening.
“Elbows happen 20 times a game. The kids are 9, they’re running and they can’t control what happens.
“But it wasn’t even an elbow, it was a nearly.”
Cailean and his team weren’t the only ones shocked by the spray. The East Coast Bays coach told the parent off and threatened to pull his team from the match, Hamilton said, adding the club had apologised for the behaviour as well.
East Coast Bays coach Russell Fisher, a club board member, said that after the inquiry is completed the board would decide what action to take against the parent concerned. “What we have done so far is apologised unreservedly both on the day, and in writing to the coach concerned,” Fisher said.
“I feel that the club Fencibles have behaved in an impeccable way and have handled themselves with complete dignity, on the day and subsequently. “I really do believe they are beyond reproach in the way that they’ve handled this issue . . . I respect them very much for that.” Fisher reiterated it was no way to act and the club was disappointed the incident took place. After the final whistle, the parent tried to apologise to Cailean but it was not heartfelt, Hamilton said.
“He said, ‘I’m sorry for saying that, but you need to stay away from my kid’. So it wasn’t really an apology.”
Before the incident took place, Cailean had written a school speech about negative sideline behaviour and coaching. After the match, he decided to share it, recording a video and uploading it to YouTube.
“Competitive sport is fast and tough, and we need to make very quick decisions. We really do need all the positive support we can get, no negative vibes please.”
Harassment from the sideline was not okay, it took away all the fun from playing the game and could force players to stop, Cailean said.
“The parents are quite hard on some of the kids because they’re in a rep grade,” his mother said.
“They don’t think about them being 9 and they just want them to win all the time.?
The incident had not been reported to the Auckland Football Federation (AFF) as of Monday afternoon, a spokesperson said. “AFF has a zerotolerance to reported and proven incidents which break the NZ Football Code of Conduct.”
This week the five biggest sporting codes vowed to make major changes to how children play sport, taking the focus away from just winning.
NZ Football, New Zealand Cricket, Hockey NZ, Netball NZ and New Zealand Rugby all signed an agreement to “keep up with the play” and make sport more inclusive.
Plans include changing adults’ competitive mindset, reviewing tournaments and how talent is identified.