Campaign to tackle bad touchline behaviour awarded

Hayley Chart and Andy Wilesmith from Suffolk FA hope the campaign will make a difference to the way young people feel when doing sports

A campaign aimed at tackling poor behaviour on the sidelines in grassroots football and giving young people a voice has been shortlisted for a national award.

The Suffolk Football Association (FA) launched the #Dontcomeif campaign earlier this year after a survey of more than 150 children found only 15% of them felt truly safe while playing football.

They felt particularly unsafe due to the behaviour some adults displayed on the sidelines during their matches, the research revealed.

The scheme is up for a County FA Recognition Award in the Tackle Poor Behaviour category after hundreds of nominations were whittled down to a top five.

The scheme aims to make children feel safer when playing football and doing other physical activity

"We are really proud and absolutely delighted to be shortlisted out of the hundreds of nominations," said Hayley Chart, Suffolk FA's safeguarding and services manager.

"For many years we have personally heard the stories of how poor spectator and coach behaviour impacts on children's enjoyment of the game.

"So, even if we don't win and don't bring the trophy home, the real winners here are the children, because we've been able to give their voice a platform."

The campaign, launched in partnership with Active Suffolk and Coplestonians FC, aims to establish a more positive culture across all sports.

The campaign team created a video, other training videos, posters and shared real stories from young people.

'We need to do better'

Andy Wilesmith, chief executive of Suffolk FA, believes it will help young people establish safer environments in the world of football and sport.

"The fact we have got children and young people in this county playing football that don't feel truly safe is really poor and as a sport we need to do better," he said.

"We want our young people to have a lifelong love of the game and to continue to be involved, and the aim of this campaign is to help drive positive behaviours.

"If they don't feel truly safe within our sport, eventually, we are just going to lose them and that will be damaging for the game."