My daughter was never a hockey or a netball girl, so my Saturdays haven't been spent shivering at sports fields around the country, but I've been to enough school sports days to know that some parents take sport far too seriously.
They harangue their own children, members of their child's team and on a couple of occasions, the teachers who were coaching the teams.
It's appalling behaviour to witness. They seem to get the Jake Heke red mist descend on them - they are apoplectic with fury at some perceived wrongdoing and appear to lose their senses as they rant and rave over a child's sports game.
My parents were both incredibly competitive sportspeople but they believed in fair play above all else.
Sadly, I didn't inherit any talent from either of them for any sport but I still enjoyed playing most games.
I can still remember, to my eternal shame, Mum taking me off the court during a netball game for packing a sad at the umpire.
A couple of years later she threatened to stop a game of tennis when I snarled at my doubles partner for missing an easy shot.
My parents loved sport, but sportsmanship was an integral part of the way they played, and they communicated that to me.
It wasn't win at all costs, but play hard and play fair. And that mantra applies just as much to the spectators as it does to the players.
