Now the club are having a big push on kids attending home games I thought it would be a good time to kick out the bad launguage that is commonly used behimd the nets. Can we have warning notices given in the programme and around the ground etc about zero tolerance, yes most of us swear, but when you hear adults shouting it really is a good reason for parents not allowing their kids to attend future games. Whats the thoughts.
As a parent myself who takes his child to games, i personally feel i have a choice. i can either sit in the McDonalds Family Stand type thing - where i wouldn’t expect to hear any foul language - or i can take him behing the goal, and just accept that there will be a bit of swearing. It’s football, not the ballet.
Must be all that swearing i let him overhear :-
Sorry boys I think Baggie is right, we all swear but it doesn’t make it right or correct, in the heat of the moment it is understandable BUT I think it is our duty to create an atmosphere where parents can allow their children to watch a game in a condusive atmosphere.
With all the work that Neil and others are putting in to encourage more families into the club the least the supporters can do is consider others.
Robbo - If people shout abusive comments from behind the goal do you really think it can’t be heard from the stand!
Stu - your response was worryingly infantile.
In answer to the question Baggie it is something that is being discussed and something we are looking at.
You are NEVER going to stop people swearing at football matches. FACT.
Which puts our society in a very poor state, all the best ‘insults’ or ‘putdowns’ at football matches are the witty ones not the vile ones, shows a lake of imagination if the best people can come out wit is some of the stuff you hear
The swearing is not usually pre-meditated. Football is a passionate game, and that often results in a few choice words being used.
Are you also going to have a zero tolerance attitude to swearing on the other side of the perimeter fence?! Are all the players going to be told not to use foul language?? Because at the moment there is just as much swearing from the pitch as there is off it!!
Lets all go back to the 1920’s and just clap politely and say things like "jolly well done sir". :
Think about what you are actually asking for before you go posting things like this. Completely unrealistic.
Actually Andrew Stu makes a very good point, shouting him down without considering his opinion is infantile. The silly P.C world we live in is sometimes hugely farcical, and this whole conversation is another example of this.
People complain about taking their child to the match and hearing people swearing but don’t seem to give a monkeys that it’s perfectly audible at 12:45 every Saturday on Sky. From fans and players/management alike. Do thousands of people write in to Sky every week complaining that they could hear United fans singing "build a bonfire", Liverpool fans singing "**** off Chelsea FC" or that Wayne Rooney shouted "**** off" and "that was a **** decision you ****" as he does every week? OF COURSE NOT.
As previous posts have stated, you have a choice so use it. Maybe we should tell the Witton players not to foul anyone as this is setting a bad example, Or maybe we should shut the club and the tea hut because there’s alcohol in the beer and fat in the pies??
What next?!?!
And so concludes ‘Greenie’s Rant Of The Week’… :o
If people really think that cutting out swearing at football matches means kids will grow up to be much more decent people, then they are way of the mark. Infact, they are probably the same people who think heavy metal music corrupts young minds also!! If kids don’t hear swearing at football, then they will hear it every day somewhere that they attend much more regularly - the school playground. Anyone thinking of teahcing their kids at home as a result of me dropping this bombshell?!?
Yes we have a responsibility to set an example, but unfortunately it is human nature for people to express themselves with the use of an expletive every now and again. Are you suggesting that if i swear unintentionally whilst watching the match, that i am going to be banned from Witton for life?!?
It just isn’t realistic to expect a football match to pass by without any bad language being used. Football has always been a working class game, and working class people do actually swear from time to time. But this happens not just at football, but also in the street, in the pub, on the telly, at work, AT HOME. Are all those places going to have zero tolerance attitudes aswell?
We have to be realistic here. I’m not saying i condone all of the language used at games, and sometimes it is well out of order. But a zero tolerance attitude is so far from reality that it’s untrue.
And i agree with Greenie, Stu did make a decent point earlier.
This is a good debate which should not degenerate into a slanging match between ourselves. Opinion on this subject will always be divided.
I agree with the points made that you will never cut swearing out of football, on or off the pitch and as Robbo says any kids will hear the same words used in the playground before they go to a football match. I knew plenty of swear words at a young age but I would never use them in front of my mother or father (and frankly would still not to this day). Knowing the words and hearing them does not mean kids can’t be taught not to use them. It is an issue of respect and an issue of good parenting.
Attending a football match means that exposure to swearing is a given. Both the working class heritage of the game and the passion during a match influence swearing. This is not to say it is correct but cutting it out is an unrealistic aim in my opinion.
Whilst I am first to admit to swearing it is also the truth that swearing and agressive behaviour in front of kids should not to be encouraged. I think the most sensible point made is that the choice should be between standing behind the goal and using the family stand - I believe the reasons family stands were created by clubs up and down the country was to deal with this precise issue, to have an area with was both calmer and less subjected to swearing.I think it is perfectly fair that adults are asked not to swear in the family stand and stewards could manage this process by quietly asking people not to. If adutlts choose to take their children behind the goal then they will always risk them hearing swearing. A notice to this effect could be placed in the programme.
I think the benefit of debating the subject is that it raises the issue and therefore perhaps all fans will consider whether they actually need to swear before they do. There are plenty examples of gratuitous swearing that could be dropped if considered first. It is fair to say that swearing does not really achieve anything other than making shouts or chants more agressive, funnier comments actually can have more impact.
It will not dissapear, we cannot enforce a swearing ban but we can consider if we do it and where we do it. Making efforts to reduce it and having a swear free family enclosure are the most proactive steps you can hope to achieve.
Stu - As someone who hasn’t got children how you can make a judgement call about what kids do and don’t need is beyond me I’m afraid.
If you read my original response it does say that in the ‘heat of the moment’ its understandable that we swear.
Swearing will always happens but my issue is that when the grounds fairly quiet we have certain individuals who are nothing short of an embarrasment.
Chad, don’t think it’s fair to say Stu’s opinion isn’t valid just coz he doesn’t have kids. He did used to be one, so he does have some experience… anyway, i’ve never managed England but that doesn’t stop me having an opinion on what a balls up Sven made of the World Cup does it?!?
This is a forum, everyone’s opinion is valid. Except maybe Greenie’s… 
Yes there are some idiots who need a quiet word in there ear when they cross the line. My point is that a zero tolerance attitude isn’t a) realistic, or b) enforcable.
Who mentioned zero tolerance?
As a parent and a leader within a youth organisation I cannot believe some of the attitude that has come out of the debate. So on this basis our invitation to the various organisations should be :-
Dear Responsible Adult,
We would like to invite you and your youngsters to our football club, please be aware that during the course of your visit you should expect to hear foul and abusive language, aggressive behaviour and plenty of crude sexual references.
Please do not be offended we hope you enjoy the experience! Its all part of little Johny growing up!
I am hardly a shrinking violet, having been abroad with England and Spurs but even I can see that we have to be a little receptive to change for the future of our football club.
Hey, josh’s mum tries her best…!!! 
At the end of the day, swearing will never be banned in football. So as a parent, do what you think is right for your child.
All i’m asking for is a slight step change, we (Neil/myself) are trying to encourage new people into the club.
If from what i’m gleaning then thats not possible then I’m quite happy to stop my part in the initiative.
Its not about me and what I want to do - sitting in a designated family area doesn’t make you deaf to events 30 yards away!
Think everybody has some valid points. As stupid as it sounds there is swearing, and there is swearing. The cursing and heat of the moment swearing does little damage and can’t be avoided. It’s the full on abusive shouting/swearing that is the problem. Shouting out that the referee is a C U Next Tuesday and such like, can really offend a lot of people and is relatively pointless. It’s all well and good saying about the family stand but believe it or not the family stand is not sound proof!!
Think it’s just a case of toning some of it down. Good banter and swearing is part and parcel of going to a football match but some of the extreme words maybe need to be removed from our supporters vocabulary (when being shouted out of course)
No you are quite right. So regardless of where you stand/sit in the ground you will still hear the swearing coming from Jim Vince, Brian Pritchard, Rob Lloyd, etc etc etc. It’s not just on the terraces that bad language is used. Is the same principal going to apply to the playing staff aswell?
In regards to a step change, then yes i personally am quite prepared to make an effort not to swear. Doesn’t mean that i wont swear though! Doesn’t mean that you wont swear either. The point i am trying to make is that people need to be realistic, swearing will always happen at football matches - but at least by having a designated family area, you are at least limiting people’s exposure to it.
Now we’re getting somewhere!
;D