JUNIOR football has changed so dramatically these days and whether they want to read it or not, that comes down to parents.

Sure there’s so much more for kids to do than when I was young - things like X-boxes and Playstations weren’t around and other sports such as basketball and I hate to say it, netball and softball, were not mentioned.

My God, had you gone to school and confessed you were playing something like that you would probably have been beaten up!

However those things are widely accepted by new-age parents today. Mums and dads who don’t want their kids to get hurt, wrap them up in cotton wool and send them off to some ‘girlie’ sport, whether they want to play it or not.

That makes me sick.

I ran out in my first-ever game at Doveton Juniors at the age of five and played there until I was 16, amassing 175 games.

I can’t recall getting badly hurt once in that time and I wonder if these types of parents actually ask the kids what they want to do.

They may be surprised if they did.

Of course then there is the other type of football parent - the ugly parent, with way too much to say.

These are the ones that run out to their kids at the end of each quarter to whisper in their ear, giving them the advice they think is needed.

That advice usually has no substance.

These types of people were probably very average footballers themselves and have to live their sad footy careers through their kids.

I recently coached a side at Fountain Gate and the number of kids that left the club in pursuit of a premiership was quite unreal.

I’m talking about kids of 13. Most of the time the decision to leave the club has been made by the parents not the child.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I see kids go from junior club to junior club searching for a flag. Somehow they haven’t grasped the concept.

What people have got to understand is that junior football was designed to teach kids the skills of the game, the culture of the sport and loyalty.

The idea was to compete in a team environment and have fun, with the eventual goal being to develop and play senior football.

I played 12 years of junior footy at the one club, Doveton Juniors and did not play in a grand final. Then I went over the road to the Doveton senior club with my mates and played in five consecutive grand finals for three premierships.

I think as adults and parents, we should relax a bit and enjoy the junior footy concept instead of turning it into a circus.

The more we push our kids to be great, the more we push them out of the game.