Two amateur clubs suspended

[Mr Plow]

East Leeds and Moldgreen suspended from juniors to open age. Crowd trouble at Moldgreen and three reds at East Leeds. I think this was Mildgreens second abandonment this year

[Griff]

14 hours ago, Mr Plow said:

East Leeds and Moldgreen suspended from juniors to open age. Crowd trouble at Moldgreen and three reds at East Leeds. I think this was Mildgreens second abandonment this year

Mildgreen sounds anything but mild.

[OriginalMrC]

Sadly this is happening more and more. A game had to be stopped at a recent Coventry Bears festival and several parents told in no uncertain terms they would be ejected if they continued to shout abuse at (14 year old) opposition players. Am not even sure how to stop it and it has definitely got worse in recent years. 

[tim2]

37 minutes ago, OriginalMrC said:

Sadly this is happening more and more. A game had to be stopped at a recent Coventry Bears festival and several parents told in no uncertain terms they would be ejected if they continued to shout abuse at (14 year old) opposition players. Am not even sure how to stop it and it has definitely got worse in recent years. 

I was involved in Midlands RL for a few years and I don't remember it ever having this issue. I think the spillover from parents also being involved in football is probably the reason. My 8 year old grandson plays football, cricket, RU and RL so I'm keeping track of the parental behaviour in each of these sports. I expect cricket to win comfortably, but you never know.  

Edited May 25 by tim2

[Gooleboy]

Parents expect to much from their kids, instead of just letting them get on with learning to play the game.

[gingerjon]

The match in the opening post was a senior game, wasn’t it?

[JonM]

9 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

The match in the opening post was a senior game, wasn’t it?

Yes - both matches in fact. The suspension is for 2 weeks and doesn't apply to primary school age players.

East Leeds because they had 3 (or 4 depending on which report you read) players sent off in a game. Moldgreen due to crowd trouble at Thornhill, who seem to have somehow avoided suspension themselves. The RFL press release also mentioned abuse of officials without giving any details.

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

1 hour ago, OriginalMrC said:

Sadly this is happening more and more. A game had to be stopped at a recent Coventry Bears festival and several parents told in no uncertain terms they would be ejected if they continued to shout abuse at (14 year old) opposition players. Am not even sure how to stop it and it has definitely got worse in recent years. 

Some parents have always been a problem to some extent. I remember Phil Larder coming down to London coming on for forty (yipes!) years ago to give a talk and pass on advise about developing youth RL in the capital, and the first thing he warned us about was pushy parents.

[lacuna1]

2 hours ago, OriginalMrC said:

Sadly this is happening more and more. A game had to be stopped at a recent Coventry Bears festival and several parents told in no uncertain terms they would be ejected if they continued to shout abuse at (14 year old) opposition players. Am not even sure how to stop it and it has definitely got worse in recent years. 

I saw this a few years ago at Leigh Sports Village. (Nothing to do with Leythers though) Wigan v Warrington U20s, Bobby Goulding was thrown out for kicking off with somebody. His son was playing for Wire. Whatever happened to him. Just disappeared. His son i mean. We all know what Bobby senior has been up to. Trying to sue the RFL for head injuries whilst being one of the worst offenders in modern times for head shots with the elbow.

[welshmagpie]

2 minutes ago, lacuna1 said:

I saw this a few years ago at Leigh Sports Village. (Nothing to do with Leythers though) Wigan v Warrington U20s, Bobby Goulding was thrown out for kicking off with somebody. His son was playing for Wire. Whatever happened to him. Just disappeared. His son i mean. We all know what Bobby senior has been up to. Trying to sue the RFL for head injuries whilst being one of the worst offenders in modern times for head shots with the elbow.

Jr is living on the Gold Coast now, into his running and Muay Thai

[Mr Plow]

2 hours ago, JonM said:

Yes - both matches in fact. The suspension is for 2 weeks and doesn't apply to primary school age players.

East Leeds because they had 3 (or 4 depending on which report you read) players sent off in a game. Moldgreen due to crowd trouble at Thornhill, who seem to have somehow avoided suspension themselves. The RFL press release also mentioned abuse of officials without giving any details.

Does seem strange Thornhill weren’t suspended as well (although I don’t know all the details). There’s a few teams that have been promoted to the new National Leagues that wouldn’t have been accepted into the NCL

[V02]

20 hours ago, Mr Plow said:

East Leeds and Moldgreen suspended from juniors to open age. Crowd trouble at Moldgreen and three reds at East Leeds. I think this was Mildgreens second abandonment this year

 

5 hours ago, JonM said:

Yes - both matches in fact. The suspension is for 2 weeks and doesn't apply to primary school age players.

East Leeds because they had 3 (or 4 depending on which report you read) players sent off in a game. Moldgreen due to crowd trouble at Thornhill, who seem to have somehow avoided suspension themselves. The RFL press release also mentioned abuse of officials without giving any details.

I heard on the day that the referee was assaulted at East Leeds.

2 weeks feels minimal and framed to make it sound harsher than it is - a lot of clubs don't have games in these weeks anyway. 

[LeeF]

52 minutes ago, V02 said:

 

I heard on the day that the referee was assaulted at East Leeds.

2 weeks feels minimal and framed to make it sound harsher than it is - a lot of clubs don't have games in these weeks anyway. 

I agree. It feels a bit like “for show” rather than dealing with the serious incidents appropriately

[Styx]

It could also be to give time for full reports to be sent to the league management group rather than they make recommendations on hearsay. Two weeks allows time for that to be done, and also sends an immediate sanction. 

[DoubleD]

10 hours ago, OriginalMrC said:

Sadly this is happening more and more. A game had to be stopped at a recent Coventry Bears festival and several parents told in no uncertain terms they would be ejected if they continued to shout abuse at (14 year old) opposition players. Am not even sure how to stop it and it has definitely got worse in recent years. 

At my kids u6 football friendly tournament recently, one team turned up 2hrs before the start. When we queried it, they said they wanted to go through training drills to ensure the 6yr old kids are fully prepared.

There are not meant to be any refs in u6s football, just let the kids play, with a couple of touchline officials supporting where necessary. The touchline officials had to intervene on a number of occasions because of aggressive and abusive behaviour of the parents on the touchline

[HullWire]

The Thornhill and Moldgreen one was a Moldgreen associated person (can't call them a supporter) screaming abuse at the Thornhill players, including a player that was subbed off, he lamped them as he came off  - not defending anyone, but it is just sport - chill out people

[Eddie]

52 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

At my kids u6 football friendly tournament recently, one team turned up 2hrs before the start. When we queried it, they said they wanted to go through training drills to ensure the 6yr old kids are fully prepared.

There are not meant to be any refs in u6s football, just let the kids play, with a couple of touchline officials supporting where necessary. The touchline officials had to intervene on a number of occasions because of aggressive and abusive behaviour of the parents on the touchline

Agreed, having been involved with kids football for the last few years it does seem to bring out the worst in a lot of people. Fortunately my kids are all now playing for teams with fab players, coaches and parents, which seems a rarity. 

[gingerjon]

11 hours ago, Styx said:

It could also be to give time for full reports to be sent to the league management group rather than they make recommendations on hearsay. Two weeks allows time for that to be done, and also sends an immediate sanction. 

Have they said they are still reviewing or is this effectively the end of the matter

[Styx]

5 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Have they said they are still reviewing or is this effectively the end of the matter

My understanding, which could be wrong, is that they are still reviewing. The long bank holiday weekend may be a factor in the response time.

[Pen-Y-Bont Crusader]

On 25/05/2026 at 10:47, OriginalMrC said:

Sadly this is happening more and more. A game had to be stopped at a recent Coventry Bears festival and several parents told in no uncertain terms they would be ejected if they continued to shout abuse at (14 year old) opposition players. Am not even sure how to stop it and it has definitely got worse in recent years. 

Which club ?

 

 

[OriginalMrC]

1 minute ago, Pen-Y-Bont Crusader said:

Which club ?

 

 

Prefer not to say. Relevant people were spoken to and the issue dealt with. 

I guess the point of my post is that crowd trouble and abuse is endemic across all levels of the game so it's unsurprising that this now seems to be a regular occurrence every season. 

[gingerjon]

Just now, OriginalMrC said:

Prefer not to say. Relevant people were spoken to and the issue dealt with. 

I guess the point of my post is that crowd trouble and abuse is endemic across all levels of the game so it's unsurprising that this now seems to be a regular occurrence every season. 

Have to say, I am sometimes quite shocked at the general 'atmosphere' at a lot of community games when footage is shared.

And not in a remotely pearl clutching way - just a, "Christ, you're grown adults, what the heck is wrong with you?" way.

[Northern Eel]

I would, for balance, add that the vast, vast majority of kids games are played and watched in tremendous spirit. Happily, poor parental behaviour is not the norm, but it is definitely creeping in. Some kids like to dish out a bit of chatter to refs too, but that gets sorted with a sit down.

[The Blues Ox]

On that note I heard in the last day or so that a Yorkshire team junior girls coach has been stood down/suspended after repeated complaints about bullying. Not sure if its a RFL or club suspension. Not a great look for the community game in Yorkshire at the moment.

[Gooleboy]

On 25/05/2026 at 21:37, DoubleD said:

At my kids u6 football friendly tournament recently, one team turned up 2hrs before the start. When we queried it, they said they wanted to go through training drills to ensure the 6yr old kids are fully prepared.

There are not meant to be any refs in u6s football, just let the kids play, with a couple of touchline officials supporting where necessary. The touchline officials had to intervene on a number of occasions because of aggressive and abusive behaviour of the parents on the touchline

This is exactly the problem. Parents on the touchline behaving like banshees. No wonder a lot of kids pack in when they get into their teens having heard all the abuse and swearing for years.