Congratulations, rugby parents of Australia – you are now so aggro that junior football clubs are throwing their hands up in defeat and hiring actual, full-grown security guards in order to curb your shit.
The Sydney Morning Herald report that, from next month, Penrith District Junior Rugby League Club will be the first to trial an initiative which will put security guards on the sidelines of games.
Panthers Group chairman Don Felts said that the initiative is about encouraging everyone on the sidelines to respect the rules and behave. “We’ve found that if we don’t have someone to do that the parents can get a bit carried away,” Felts added.
If parents or spectators come in too hot, security guards have the authority to approach them and say “settle down, it’s only junior football” … y’know, just the kind of soothing language to calm the kind of maniac who screams abuse at primary school-aged kids.
It is hoped that the scheme, which comes at “considerable cost”, will encourage more participation, as many parents pull their children out of junior games thanks to intimidation, foul language and threats on the sidelines.
Brad Fittler, who played in Penrith as a junior, supports the initiative, and says that he still has memories of being chased around by parents as a 10-year-old, an experience he remembers more clearly than when he was Australian captain.
Presumably, if the scheme is successful at Penrith, it will be trialed at other clubs around the country. We’re shaking our damn heads.
Photo: Dean Purcell via Getty Images
