Editorial: Stamp out ugly side of sport

There is an ugly side to sport.

As a rugby head I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a paradigm shift when my sons decided to embrace the round ball.

Thing is, the most alarming cultural change proved not to be the shape of the ball, but the sideline ethos.

During the ensuing years in the local junior club grade the demeanour of supporters and the odd-coach was at times barbarous. On Saturday mornings the "beautiful game's" frosty tramlines were peppered with some of those hell-bent on firing barbs at the man holding the whistle.

One intense parent made a habit of pacing the chalklines baying like a bulling heifer.

It was a far cry from the gentrified sidelines of my rugby youth, where refs were, bar the odd exception, sacrosanct. Back on the soccer scene my sons were beginning to blame the ref for any defeat. The unremitting din from the sideline was having an effect.

Elite basketball deserves special mention in this respect.

Every time I get along to a National Basketball League (NBL) game I'm reminded that ref abuse is endemic in this code.

Sure the antics are part of the schtick of any top-level basketball coach, but it's a dangerous obscenity. Children walking away from Pettigrew-Green Arena have no reason to think ref roasting isn't acceptable in other sports.

It's why the advent of the "Be Part of the Team" joint initiative between Sport Hawke's Bay, Hawke's Bay Rugby Union, Central Football, Basketball Hawke's Bay and Hawke's Bay Hockey is welcomed by this paper. The goal is to "stamp out the ugly side of sport" as the school and junior club season begins.

However, and notwithstanding this campaign's noble intentions, it remains highly embarrassing that we have to remind adults how to behave around children.