Parenting Daily World Cup Diary - Day Four: Anyone for rugby?

So after all that, Luis Suarez apologised.

Except it was an apology so contrived and full of cynicism that it wasn't worth the paper his lawyers wrote it on.

And without wishing to labour the point, it should serve as a cautionary tale to impressionable youngsters: If you go around biting people and generally being a bit despicable, you will get your comeuppance in the form of a £50m transfer to Barcelona FC and £250k a week in wages.

Oh.

So, the World Cup. I'll be honest, we're on the second of two 'rest' days and I've kind of lost interest.

I've no particular allegiance to the teams that are left, based on the fact that I can easily find reasons to dislike most of each nation's star players.

Mrs East Herts Dad is grateful for the respite though, given her intense hatred for both football and footballers. I'm starting to think she's got a point, so I've been wondering what other sports we could get the nipper involved with in a couple of year's time.

Let's start with the obvious options. Rugby could end up being his thing (if, indeed, he's into sports at all). One half of the family is Irish and likes its rugby - his mum likes Brian O'Driscoll really rather a lot. Maybe a little too much.

And then you've got cricket. I quite like cricket. Nice pace, requires a bit of brainpower. Like rugby, there's lots of good local clubs around.

Golf. I like golf too. I've even got clubs. Can't actually play for toffee though. Still, the idea of afternoons over the range or on the fairway with the boy are quite appealing.

Then you're into your track & field, tennis, swimming, martial arts, motorsport, squash, boxing, a car/kart etc.

Each has it's own pros & cons - and I supposed the biggest consideration for parents of sporting age kids is the cost. Club memberships aren't cheap and then for some of the above you need a lot of specialist equipment - clubs, pads, bats, helmets.

The thing with football that makes it so universal is that it's a simple game - all you need is a ball. Maybe a couple of jumpers for goalposts.

Which is why the Ruggerbugs demo caught my eye at the recent Teddy Bears' Picnic in Hertford.

It's for pre-school kids and isn't so much about playing rugby as using it as an excuse for a bit of social interaction and development of hand-eye coordination. What was particularly noticeable was how much both boys and girls enjoyed it.

It's something that comes up time and time again in relation to the development of football skills in this country, specifically that we put too much emphasis on competition/winning at a young age, when what we should be doing is focussing on technical ability. And having some fun.

We're sure Ruggerbugs isn't alone in it's more developmental approach to sports coaching. So if you run a kids club for football, rugby or any other sport in East Herts please get in touch as we'd love to hear from you - over the next weeks and months we'll be compiling a list of the best clubs and publishing it on our website.

Until then, let's see how the World Cup Quarter Finals pan out over the weekend.

Our money's on France to win the whole thing. Well, it would have been if we'd been bothered to go down the bookies three weeks ago when the odds of such a thing were A LOT longer.

Stuart

Parenting Daily World Cup Diary - Day Three: Luis Suarez bites again, won't somebody think of the children?!

So he's been at it again - Luis Suarez, that most despicable of footballers, last night 'bit' another player on the pitch for the third time in his career.

I'm not sure why I bothered to put the word bit in inverted commas - sure, it's been trial by TV replay from a bad camera angle, but repeated viewings leave little doubt that he did it.

The suits at FIFA are at time of writing deliberating over his punishment, which will surely see him expelled from the World Cup and given a lengthy ban from international football. And of course there's will be implications for his current club side and whoever he was going to join this summer (he's been agitating for a move - classy).

But what about his image and the impact such bitey madness has on impressionable youth?

Well, his image was already in the toilet - two counts of on-field biting and one of racism takes care of that. What's telling though is that the first biting offence didn't stop Liverpool signing him, the second biting/racism offence didn't stop Liverpool playing him, and the latest incident probably won't stop another big club buying him.

Clearly, football operates by a different moral code to the rest of us - if you're good enough at your job, that trumps any other considerations when it comes to your character/previous.

Then in the immediate aftermath of the incident we had the inevitable 'won't somebody thing of the children?!' commentary. Now, as I've mentioned in previous blogs, this might be my son's first World Cup, but he's only seven months old, so he's spared the pain of watching his team get beaten, or witnessing toothy on-field assaults.

But as I sat there watching Glenn Hoddle talk nonsense on the telly box, I tried putting my 'concerned parent' hat on and pondered whether, if The Boy was at a more impressionable age, would I be worried that he would go into school one day and 'do a Suarez' having seen the offence in full widescreen HD glory?

And my conclusion was that no, I wouldn't be worried. Why? Because Luis Suarez clearly has issues. Normal people just don't go out and about biting people, either on the football field or in the street (market town centres after 10 pints on a Friday night notwithstanding).

If there was a child at school that did carry out such repetitively bad biting behaviour, chances are he or she would require professional help in the same way Suarez does. Such behaviour is just not normal.

So nope, from a parenting standpoint it's not the biting in football that worries me - I'd actually be more concerned about on-field cheating - diving, fake injuries, bad tackles and the like. That's the stuff that school kids might copy as it comes under 'gamesmanship', not ultra violent physical assault.

And let's be clear - there's a big difference between what you'd call a 'nasty' challenge and making a conscious decision to bite an opponent.

So for all the handwringing at one individual's extreme - and extremely rare - behaviour, what we really should be doing is asking why nothing ever seems to be done about the kinds of on-field bad behaviour that ARE copied by - and even taught to - kids.

Over to you, FIFA and the The FA, but I'm not holding my breath.

Stuart

Parenting Daily's World Cup Diary - Day Two

So in our first World Cup Diary entry we said we'd cover the inevitable disappointment of international football in a later post.

Well, this is the later post. England have just been beaten by Uruguay and in all likelihood are heading home early from the 2014 World Cup.

It really shouldn't be any surprise given the low expectations going into the tournament and, well, now we can sit back and enjoy the football as neutral fans - all the fun, none of the pain.

Ah, the pain. The Boy hasn't yet picked his international football allegiances. He's only six months old. Not that he'll have much choice - it'll be England or Ireland. Or both, if he's allowed.

Either way - and assuming he grows up to like football (or even sport in general) - it probably means a lifetime of crushing disappointment.

Same goes for his club side - clearly I'd like to think he'll support the same team as I do (though I accept there's a chance he could pick a rival as an act of rebellion), but again the crushing disappointment won't be far away.

Pre-ordained misery - How rubbish is that? As a parent it's something I'm becoming increasingly conscious of - major and trivial life decisions made by me and Mrs East Herts Dad could have a profound impact (positive or negative) on the little fella when he's older.

You know, stuff like where we live, what school he goes to and what friends he'll have.

It's probably best not to think about it too much. Just like the England football team.

Parenting Daily's World Cup Diary - Day One

So the World Cup started last night with an undeserved Brazil win over Croatia, set against a backdrop of FIFA corruption and rioting in Rio.

Which is good (really, it is!) because over the next four weeks I'm going write a few pieces on this here blog about my first World Cup as a dad, which as such is likely to be a bit of a different experience for me personally than the World Cups before it.

You see, until yesterday I don't think I've ever been less excited by an impending footie fest than I had been about this World Cup. And I usually get pretty excited about these things, being a football loving, season ticket holding kind of bloke.

I say 'football loving'. Truth is the last few years I've been increasingly disillusioned with the game.

Footballers are idiots for starters. Then the fact the sport is being ruined by a concentration of power, money and influence at the richest clubs. And all the while I'm also being fleeced by the club I support in terms of pricing for the aforementioned season ticket.

Plus, that team I support has been, well, a bit shit for quite a while (until a recent trophy got that monkey off our backs - yay!).

But look, us football fans aren't logical people - as Mrs East Herts Dad regularly points out, despite all my moaning I'm still happy to hand over my hard earned every year for the privilege of cheering the lads on.

And, in theory, an international football tournament in summertime can be a welcome distraction from the inevitable disappointment of the club football season [we'll cover the inevitable disappointment of international football itself in a later post - ed].

Which means I was struggling to work out why I wasn't in the mood for Brazil. Is it because, for once, there's literally no expectation that England will achieve anything? Nope. England haven't come with any expectation attached since Euro 96, for me at least. Too many disappointments.

Then it hit me. Time. I just haven't been able to indulge in the usual pre-World Cup ritual of pouring over the teams, stats, gossip, endless punditry, predictions and Panini sticker books (yep, as a grown adult I can still be found 'swapping' and 'needing' with friends and colleagues).

Work has been busy, for sure, but it's also The Boy, bless him. Guess what? Turns out when you have a six month old child, there just aren't the hours in the day (or evening) to waste on the above frivolities.

Gone are the times of World Cups and Euros past where I would WATCH EVERY GAME (or at least try to by sneaking out of work).

This time round I'm going to have to juggle the live matches on the tellybox with BabyTV's utterly delightful short animations during his evening feeds and pre-bed sleepy time. Not so much Thierry Henry as Hungry Henry. And there will certainly be less pub*.

But you know what? This is a good thing. Less pre-game build up on TV equals less Adrian Chiles.

And now that everything's underway in Brazil and with a couple of WC BBQs coming up over the weekend, I've belated joined in with the soccerball excitement.

So join me, dear readers, over the next month as the World Cup 2014 story unfolds alongside the nappy changes, feeding times and tantrums.

Life is good.

*This is very different to 'no pub'.