Parents use Mobile Phones to distract Youth Players during Penalty Shoot-Out

If you remove adults and parents from the equation, youth football can be a wonderful thing. Children get the chance to exercise, learn the value of teamwork and ward off scurvy with those halftime orange slices. Unfortunately, parents and adults are never very far away from the action in youth football and that’s how things can turn downright dumb.

During the penalty shoot-out of an under-13s match in England, parents standing behind a goal flashed mobile phones to distract players taking the kicks. Here’s what went down:

Lancashire FA officials now plan to study the referee’s report after crowd members cheered missed penalties and used their mobile phones to try to distract players taking the kicks.

The trouble began when Moston Brook’s 12-year-old goalkeeper Alex Blood was sent off during the shoot-out for alleged comments made to the referee.

This led to Moston Brook manager Michelle Woodall and her assistant running on to the pitch and confronting the referee.

One FA official at the game told the M.E.N: “It was a disgraceful situation. The pair should not have come on the pitch, and the cheering of missed penalties and the use of mobile phones to put off young players taking penalties is frankly beyond belief.”

It isn’t really beyond belief. It you told me that parents hired snipers to kill the opposing players and hired a hit man to take out the referee I would hardly blink. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the kids who took part in this game grow up to do just that.

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Category: World Football