Sports hooligan parents

Durban fashion designer Karen Monk Klijnstra had a nasty experience this week when an over-eager parent at her daughter’s hockey match screamed for his child to mow down the opposition team. What ensued was the child literally doing that causing her daughter, Lola, to fall down and hurt herself.

 

Lola, being a good sport, go up, dusted herself off and continues the match.

 

But the abuse from this father continued until Karen’s husband went over and asked him to stop this behaviour, which was completely unacceptable. Karen then went on to post her story on Facebook with the most astounding responses.

 

It would seem that this kind of brutish behaviour from parents at school sports matches is widespread. Here are some of the responses... Please note these comments are as is off Karen’s Facebook page and have not been edited.

 

“I find the parents who are coaching from the stands frustrating, as a coach u know the whole teams strengths and you have a game plan. Over eager parents can ruin the game. Also the fact that hardly any children and parents say thank you and goodbye to the coach at the end of a game. Rude parents produce rude children.”

 

“Parents shud set examples for their kids!! sad to c the next generation leading in the wrong path !! I've been in ur shoes n its heartbreaking to c our kids who have been taught the right way to dust it off and move on !! not to mention forgiving the offensive one.”

 

“Karen another example for our precious children of "how not to be".......”

 

“You should see the dad' s on the side of the rugby field! In fact, there was a lovely. .. (NOT) lady from Richards Bay drinking brandy and coke at 11am at her son' s under 12 rugby match who screamed for her son to "Breek sy v@#ken been!! Never in my life had I come across anything like itI was like:"people behave like this!?!? Ladies behave like this? " My poor dad, the ultimate gentleman, nearly had a heart attack I think!!!”

 

“Oh my word, such disgusting behaviour. It is one thing being an animal of a supporter(that's me) but never, ever ever would I condone that kind of bad sportsmanship from my kids. You play hard but you play clean.”

 

What do you think the repercussions should be for parents who behave aggressively and shout obscenities at children at schools sports matches?

You can email Terence Pillay at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @terencepillay1 and tweet him your thoughts.