I was recently in Sainsbury’s one evening at a time when a lot of young children are out shopping with their parents. It was like a mass fashion parade of England football strip.
Is this pester power, I ask myself? And if so, by whom of whom? Do children somehow catch the fever at nursery, or do parents insist that their children abandon their favourite clothes in favour of patriotic fervour?
How does this fit with one football associations policy, which is a non-competitive one: “Years of research has shown that young children’s emotions can be negatively affected by competition?”
Well, that was the Scottish FA spokesman speaking; I do not suppose he will be overly concerned with the emotions of English children, given the kind of opinion often expressed by his countrymen. But we have very similar policies in England.
We should be shielding children from the possibly very harmful effects of missed penalties, not multiplying the emotional damage by encouraging such close identification with fallen heroes.
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