Dad, coach, referee... and harangued

Edward with the junior soccer team he coaches. Photo / Renee Latta

Ten 6-year-olds scramble around a little soccer ball in ankle-deep mud as I attempt to herd them like ducks around the field.

Angry shouts erupt from the sideline: "You should've let the game run!" "Get the ball to the sides." "That was a foul, for God's sake!"

The constant haranguing is intimidating ... they are coming from parents of my team. Pretty soon, I know, I will hear my partner telling them to "lay off" me. It becomes harder to stay on the paddock, concentrating on the game for the kids, while she defends me.

Coaches of the under-7s also double as referees on Saturday mornings. There's no suggestion of a pitch invasion or physical violence but the mood is ugly.

Parents uncomfortable with the shouting and gesticulating move away from the rowdy ones. Occasionally, someone will mutter that "people should settle down".

By the final whistle, I get the kids together to do the three-cheers for the opposite team "and one for the refs".

Parents stand around in their gumboots, glaring over folded arms as I try to remember whose turn it is to receive player of the day.

I tousle my son's hair and ask if he had fun. "Yep," he replies."Can you coach us every season Dad?"

I remind him I'd promised only to coach one season and he should enjoy it.

I do my best to push all the aggravation out of my mind to get on with the weekend.