An Australian junior football league is exercising a new training programme - but it's the parents getting whipped into shape.
Melbourne's Eastern Football League has kicked off a new initiative called 'Silent Sundays' in an effort to quell aggressive adults on the sidelines. Shouting, talking to the umpire and parents assuming the role of deputy coach are all prohibited, reports 7News.
- Rugby League: Junior Kiwis score freakish try in loss to Junior Kangaroos
- Promising tag player hit by car outside a party dies
The only noise permitted from the crowd is respectful clapping and cheering when a goal is scored.
"We've got parents who are, in one way or another, abusing children," Dyson Baker, General Manager of Football Operations at the League, told Sunrise.
"This is a way of starting a conversation, building an awareness and making people understand that what's going on isn't going to be tolerated."
Baker also hopes Silent Sundays will stop pushy parents from abusing umpires and referees - meaning the game can play out with fewer interruptions.
Newshub.