I don't think the league ban goes far enough. My son's manager recently gave us a wodge of paperwork to read through and basically told my husband that it was going to get tougher for the boys next season.

The paperwork included explanations as to why they'd miss playing in any match – it all seemed so hard on them.

Our son is not one of the strongest players but he enjoys it. Last season the manager decided to award a trophy to the 'man' of the match at the end of each game.

At first I thought this would be a great way to encourage any small improvement or to boost their confidence – but not so!

I thought surely they will make sure all the children got awarded.

Towards the end of the season our son still had never been awarded it – so I rang the manager and asked why.

It appears he just wasn't good enough and not committed enough, as he had missed several Sunday matches.

As Christians I was not too relaxed about our son missing too much Christian fellowship, worship and teaching.

Therefore, if the matches were played too many Sundays in a row I would take him out of the match.

Apparently this showed a lack of commitment.

It was supposed to be fun and to keep him fit, give him an interest and encourage him in a team and give him a sense of belonging and responsibility.

However, even between team mates it sometimes seemed too competitive.

Our son loves football and will find it hard not belonging to the team any longer.

Football was his hobby and something he enjoyed – not his profession.

I used to admire these men that give so much of their time to coach children's football teams, but something seems to take over and perhaps some of them need to ask the question: "Am I really doing this for the children anymore."

MARCH MUM,
name and address supplied.