Auckland Netball attacks bad sideline behaviour head on

Auckland Netball’s latest attempt at combating negative sideline behaviour has been a competition encouraging youths to submit a video showcasing more positive courtside conduct.

Auckland Netball judicial committee member LeeAnne Clark told Te Waha Nui bad sideline behaviour spoiled the game for everyone and was especially not enjoyable for the umpires when they are hassled.

“Usually it’s people directing abuse at the umpires that’s the problem. It turns them off doing that for the game which means we have fewer and fewer of them which makes it more difficult to run competitions,” said Ms Clark.

AUT's Dr Simon Walters has looked at sideline behaviour on a larger scale in Auckland, researching the influence of adults on children's sporting experiences.

Dr Walters said the perfect sports culture for children was ideally within a developmental environment that was also fun, but New Zealand had a culture of sport which was largely focused around winning.

“We stand around [the children] like a goldfish bowl which is probably something that we didn’t do 20 to 30 years ago.

“We yell instructions at them so the coach tells them what to do, the parents tell them what to do and if they don’t do it they get told off . . . That’s predominantly the model of behaviour we’ve got.”

Dr Walters found that this problem was rife across all four sporting disciplines that he researched - rugby, touch rugby, football and netball.

Ms Clark agreed, and said sometimes the bad behaviour came from the coach of the team rather than the supporters.

The winning video of Auckland Netball's sideline behaviour competition will be shown on the big screen at the Northern Mystics versus Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic game at Auckland's Trust Arena on Monday.

Auckland Netball could not be reached for comment.