Hundreds of football grounds will remain silent this weekend across NSW in a bid to curb bad behavior.
The experiment is being led by Australia’s second largest sporting club, the North Shore Football Association in Sydney.
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The association is made up of 1,200 teams and 17,000 members who will all participate in a Silence on the Sidelines.
This means that over the weekend, threats, negativity, shouting, sidelines and just general bad behavior will not be tolerated at football matches across much of Sydney.
David Watson, president of the association, said it was about promoting respect for all ages.
He said he was concerned that a lack of sportsmanship on the field or on the sidelines could deter people from continuing to play or officiate.
“We’ve seen a number of different sports where things get out of hand. It’s usually the parents on the field who lose their cool,” Mr Watson said.
“This is an initiative to proactively build a culture of respect that prevents problems.”
Angry spectators ‘can be a little scary’
Sydney Wahroonga Tigers under-15 football player Nicholas Bendall said it was his first year refereeing for younger teams and even that could be a challenge.
“I’ve actually been abused before and it can sometimes be a bit difficult to continue, especially considering I’m inexperienced,” he said.
Mr Bendall said it was common for spectators and players to make remarks to him, but sometimes things could get out of hand.
“If it’s threatening, it can be a little scary, but if it’s just ‘oh, I think you made the wrong call,’ then it’s not as bad,” he said.
Wahroonga Tigers under-15 team manager and football parent David Garnsey said he knew how easy it was to get sucked into a game.
“It’s true. I don’t think anyone would doubt that it’s easy to get upset and we’re talking about under-15s here, so it’s at a time when boys are starting to take their football very seriously,” he said.
“So it’s not surprising that some parents are also starting to take this seriously.”
But he said this weekend everyone would stay quiet.
“We haven’t had a lot of problems in terms of abusive spectators or annoying players,” Mr Garnsey said.
“It never hurts to remind everyone that football is, above all, a game to be enjoyed.
“I think that message will be, I would say loud and clear, on a silent weekend like this.”
Another Wahroonga Tigers player, Sairaag Satish, said she thought the weekend would be interesting.
“I think it just helps the players clear their minds, because a lot of the time you can hear the parents and coaches from the sidelines telling them what to do,” she said.
