British Parents to Ban Cheering At Football Games?

[AGXStarseed]

(Not written by me)

I came across this after watching a video from the channel "No Bull****", in which a woman makes the claim that cheering at sporting events for children should be banned as she thinks it is harmful for children.

Here is the video:

I have to agree with Piers and Anna May Mangan on this argument.
I've been dragged along to amateur Rugby training and games back when my younger brother used to play and my dad used to coach, so I've seen how parents act when the kids are playing.
Granted, there are a few who get a bit rowdy, berate their kids and/or the team too harshly or use language they shouldn't use - but they are the minority, so surely it's easier to take the problematic parents to one side and punish them with a warning/fine/ban rather than trying the silence all the parents.
You don't go to a restaurant where, because one person yelled at the waiter, no-one else is now allowed to talk.

Furthermore as Piers has pointed out, it'll be confusing for the kids if they have to play their game with no interaction from the parents, yet if they go to/watch a professional game been played at a stadium and see the crowds criticizing/cheering on the teams they support they will likely be wondering why their parents aren't allowed to do the same at their games.
In my own opinion, cheering is positive reinforcement to your children/team and it helps both you and the children/team feel good when they succeed; when you feel good, you enjoy yourself more. As someone who wasn't very good at sport and hated PE at school, I will admit that it can be disheartening to see the other team win - but that is life; as Anna said, "Children have to learn to win, to lose and to cope with pressure" and I agree wholeheartedly.
Losing does suck - regardless of whether it's sport-related or not - but it's up to the parents and the coach/staff to then help the kids to look at where they went wrong and improve so that the next time as individuals and as a team they may do better.
To quote Japanese athlete Morihei Ueshiba, "Failure is the key to success; each mistake teaches us something."

As I've said, there are a minority of parents who swear/berate the kids/get to rowdy and I do agree with Jane that that isn't acceptable, but my agreement with her ends there as I don't like the fact that she wants to ban cheering altogether; as Anna said, it'll start a slippery slope and while we won't know know where it will end, it will negatively impact on the sports and people's enjoyment of them. What's more, who's going to regulate this on the match days when the kids are playing against other teams?
Another thing that bothers me is that Jane says it affects kids more nowadays because of kids been under 'higher levels of stress' sounds like utter twaddle to me; I'm pretty sure previous generations have been under far more stress than today's youngsters, and I'm saying this as a Millennial (born in the early 90's).

Also, Jane contradicts herself in this video as at 1:12, she says that applause ata game is fine but then at 3:00 she states she wants complete silence at a game. Which is it?
Finally, I'm glad to see the poll at the 5:40 mark shows the majority of people think that cheering should not be banned.

What is your opinion on this?

 

[Autistamatic]

There will always be busybodies with idiotic ideas trying to project their own insecurities onto the rest of society. Piers loves having cranks on, they're basically cannon fodder to him

 

[ZebraAutismo]

I think cheering is fine (other then the sensory overload aspect) however I do not think the swearing and hate speech I witnessed at football matches should be okay.

 

[Autistamatic]

Agreed - I have never understood how threatening violence against the opposition (or the referee) is supposed to encourage your team to do better?

 

[Judge]

Furthermore as Piers has pointed out, it'll be confusing for the kids if they have to play their game with no interaction from the parents, yet if they go to/watch a professional game been played at a stadium and see the crowds criticizing/cheering on the teams they support they will likely be wondering why their parents aren't allowed to do the same at their games.

This.

Frankly I'm inclined to think just about any message from adults to children is potentially harmful when it reflects a simple dynamic of "Do as I say- not how I do". Kids aren't stupid automatons. They'll look at such a message and interpret it as a tacit form of hypocrisy.

-And subsequently ignore it.

 

[Mr Allen]

I stopped caring about British football (Soccer to the Americans) in general years ago because of the problems it causes the local Police every time there's trouble between rival fans, that and the big name players get paid far too much IMO, I mean £20,000 a week to kick a plastic ball round for 90 minutes 9 months a year? Eh? Doctor's and Police Officers don't get that and they work full time.

 

[AGXStarseed]

I stopped caring about British football (Soccer to the Americans) in general years ago because of the problems it causes the local Police every time there's trouble between rival fans, that and the big name players get paid far too much IMO, I mean £20,000 a week to kick a plastic ball round for 90 minutes 9 months a year? Eh? Doctor's and Police Officers don't get that and they work full time.

The article is referring specifically to children playing amateur sports like football, rugby league, etc. with Jane (the blonde lady in the video) saying that on match days when the children's teams play against each other - I'll use Cottingham Tigers and Skirlaugh Bulls from the Hull & District League as an example - she wants parents to remain completely silent instead of cheering, yelling, etc.
As I've said, I agree with her that yelling, berating the children and swearing are not acceptable and parents who partake in that should be punished with warnings, a fine or been banned from attending.
However, I don't agree with the idea that all parents should watch their children playing while in complete silence as I think that cheering is a positive reinforcement for children to try hard and feel good when they succeed.
On top of that, if a child who plays the game sees that their parents aren't cheering for them when they play on the match days, but then if they watch a professional game on television or go to see a professional game (say Sheffield Eagles vs. Rochdale Hornets) and they see the crowds are all cheering for their teams, they are going to be confused and wanting answers; possibly causing negative consequences if they come to their own conclusions as to why there is a double standard.

 

[Aeolienne]

At my school we weren't forbidden from cheering per se, but we were discouraged from calling out individual names.