Youth Football: Should We Let Children Win and Lose?

This weekend, parks and fields around England will once again be full of children playing football as youth football leagues kick-off around the country. For many children playing a football match is a great way to have fun in an organised way, supervised by qualified coaches and managers, and playing for a team, especially for younger children, is a great experience as they try and copy the skills of their heroes. And is there a better way to teach children how to cope with the ups and downs of winning and losing than playing out a full football season and trying to get to the top of the league table ?

However in 2008 the FA ruled that children who are under the age of 8 will not be allowed to play ‘competitive’ football throughout England. While under-8 teams were allowed to enter leagues to guarantee regular fixtures, results were not allowed to be published and league tables could not be kept.

Teams were also banned from entering knockout competitions where trophies and medals were at stake. Medals are allowed to be given out as long as every competitor receives one. Youth football is about to begin its 3rd season under this rule but is it working as intended?

When the rule was introduced, the FA were keen to point out it does have advantages, after lots of people involved in youth football spoke out against it.  It was intended to allow kids to enjoy the game without being under pressure from league tables, coaches and over-enthusiastic parents (having refereed in youth football for 3 seasons, I know how bad parents can get). The fact that there is no league table doesn’t affect the children.

I was a coach at an under-8s team last season and they didn’t mind too much about there not being a league table. They still enjoyed playing football, whether they won or lost. In fact I was slightly worried after the team lost 7 out of their first 8 games conceding 41 goals in the process (not my fault, honest!). But every time they walked off the pitch they had a smile on their face. Whether this would be different if there was a league table is an interesting point but I suspect they would still enjoy it.

One thing I did notice is that some of the players would try and keep their own league table in their head. The accuracy of their memory to recount how many games we had won, drawn and lost astounded me. They were also very interested in improving their results. Before every match I was asked “Have we played this team before?”, if I answered yes they would then ask “What was the score last time?”.

By the end of the season the team really weren’t bothered that they couldn’t find out where they finished in the table, and despite losing 11-1 twice in the season they had fun and that was the most important thing for them.

So if winning the league isn’t important for the kids then why all the uproar when the rule was announced?

Well, it seems that nowadays some coaches are more interested in winning than letting the kids have fun. Whilst refereeing an u13s match last season, a manager struck me as being much more interested in yelling at me for making a mistake and  shouting at his team to try and get a win rather then just letting the kids play and have fun. Whilst they are older than the team, I coached I still think it is important for the kids to enjoy their football rather than be yelled at for the whole match. I feel it could well have been coaches like these who spoke up against the rule.

Many coaches do not volunteer to bring enjoyment to children, or to give something back to the community. Some sign up so they can pursue victory. While I would doubt a coach that doesn’t enjoy winning exists, coaches must remember to think of the children first. The pressure of competition can affect children in different ways, and most younger children just enjoy kicking a football around a muddy field on a rainy Sunday morning. Getting up at 5am to put their kit on has become a regular weekend routine for some children, and the feeling of knowing they and their friends belong on the same team is enough to keep many children enjoying football.

As I mentioned earlier of course, they would enjoy having trophies up for grabs, but in my opinion the negatives of a league table at a young age outweigh the positives, and I think this rule should be extended until children play 11-a-side football which in some cases may not be until they are 14.

I’m sure kids would enjoy football more if they won trophies, but winning is not always necessary for enjoyment. Some coaches would do well to remember that.

(photo via woodleywonderworks on Flickr)

Coaching, Politics and Society, Youth Academies, Youth Football