A novel way to control violent football fans.

dreamdaisy

I heard this on the radio earlier and I love its quirkiness. Apparently there is a team in Brazil which is renowned for the violent conduct of its supporters so the management decided to train the mothers of the most offensive fans as stewards.

The fans were not told about this (and I guess the Mas were sworn to secrecy too). When they appeared on the pitch sidelines some of the really badly behaved men were observed to be in tears, and the game passed without any incidents in the crowd.

Brilliant, effective and subtle: I love it. I don't know if there are plans to extend this scheme in Brazil but I hope other countries take note. To my mind it is a great shame that something like this has to be done but the behaviour off the pitch reflects the behaviour on the pitch: maybe the players' mothers should become involved too? DD

theresak

It might depend on the quality of the mothers. I once watched a male referee stop a junior game because of the language coming from the watching parents - he said he would take both teams off unless the parents behaved themselves.

This was a school match in the 80s, in a very rural part of Durham - but it was by no means an isolated incident.

stickywicket

I'm inclined to agree with Tezz having, for many years, witnessed parental behaviour at children's footie matches. And that of coaches. And even refs. One coach/ref of my son's cub match watched my lad dribbled the ball upfield unchallenged, noted he was about to score and yelled "Take his legs!" to his own team. They did, in the penalty area, and the coach / ref awarded an indirect free kick. What does that teach 10yr olds?

Latin men do seem to idolise their mothers (A concept which would have my two roaring with laughter ) and, besides, over here, I think much of the trouble isn't from callow youths but from those old enough to know better.

LignumVitae

I love the idea and it would have worked if it had been some of the mums from my school...the thought of their withering stares still scares me. I can remember parents being racist on the sidelines and being surprised when they were challenged for their rants. I have to say, having attended a large stadium also known as a theatre of dreams for many years, I have very rarely seen violence, I've heard shouts and the one time I did witness racism at the ground I reported it and the idiot was frog marched out. I think within grounds we are generally quite good these days. In the pubs afterwards or the local town and city centres it's probably a different story.

Boomer13

Pure genius. I'm not sure it would work here from what I've witnessed between Mums and their children at the local shopping mall. And yes, here too, it's the parents that have the worst behavior at children's sporting events.

GraceB

Love the concept. I can just imagine the look on those faces!

GraceB