Talking Footy

Has been happening for many years in the EFL and surrounding leagues - it is about participation at that level and if there is only a desire to win kids might not get a fair share of ground time due to their skill level - human nature being what it is a coach and player will always want to win - removing the notion of winning is a step towards reducing the chance of players not getting an equal go. I don't think it's such a big deal and having coached at that level it hasn't been.

It's certainly not a big deal because players generally know who scored the most goals.
I would have preferred that scoring was made optional rather than banned.
i.e. there was no requirement for goal umpires to keep score.

Xman wrote:

Have a cry Dave. The kids will vote with their feet. If they don't like it theyll play something else. Most 9 year olds would be told to ignore the scoreboard and just play the game for fun anyway

Have you ever coached kids.?
I have ,& I can guarantee ,they care about the score ,& the scoreboard.

Kids are naturally competitive,& you cant just take that away.

How do they learn to win or lose gracefully.

How do you develop mental strength,to come from behind & pull off a win ,if scores are not important..


& XMAN ,have a read of the comments on that story...300+ last time I looked ,& about 1 in 100 were in support of it ,
The rest,parents/coaches etc ,were livid.
I think that should be enough warning that the idea is stupid.

Heck when we trained during the little games between the forwards and backs both teams always tried to win.

We'd always knew side which got on top.

AFLcrap1 wrote:

Xman wrote:

Have a cry Dave. The kids will vote with their feet. If they don't like it theyll play something else. Most 9 year olds would be told to ignore the scoreboard and just play the game for fun anyway

Have you ever coached kids.?
I have ,& I can guarantee ,they care about the score ,& the scoreboard.

Kids are naturally competitive,& you cant just take that away.

How do they learn to win or lose gracefully.

How do you develop mental strength,to come from behind & pull off a win ,if scores are not important..


& XMAN ,have a read of the comments on that story...300+ last time I looked ,& about 1 in 100 were in support of it ,
The rest,parents/coaches etc ,were livid.
I think that should be enough warning that the idea is stupid.

The kids know the score - they also know who is winning - what it does do is take the competitive parents out of wanting the best kids on the field for the whole game - It's not a big deal - when I coached I had 3 groups and rotated each group from back to mid to forwards - when we went to under 11's most of the parents and kids only wanted to win - there was always pressure from some parents that the kids who didn't get it should get less time than the good kids. Kids will be exposed to 'winning' games soon enough what does it matter! I think this isn't really an issue - my young bloke doesn't remember that he didn't play for points when 10 but he remembers he played and had fun - now days he's more concerned that he didn't play well even though he plays very well!

Raiderdave wrote:

its already the softest girliest sport there is
now they've found a way to castrate its you males even more

Go out to your local AFL ground this weekend, Dave, and you won't last five seconds with that bullshit!