You're too young to win!
Young junior footballers in the Black Country have been left in tears over a bizarre FA ruling which bans them from competing in summer tournaments.
One team of six year-olds won a recent tournament – only to be fined a few days later for taking part.
Parents of players from Wordsley Wasps Football Club today branded the move "crazy". Stourbridge and District Youth Football League sent a letter to clubs warning that new FA rules brought in this summer prohibited competitions for under-eights.
The aim is to reduce the pressure on youngsters by removing the competitive element and allowing them to concentrate on improving their skills.
Some clubs have tried to get round the regulations by holding tournaments with no winners or runners-up – just a trophy for "the team that got the furthest" and "the team that got the next furthest".
But Martin Hawthorne, whose six-year-old son Lucas plays with the Wasps, said the crackdown was a prime case of "political correctness gone mad".
"It upset the kids when we had to tell them they weren't allowed to compete any more, they were devastated and were crying," he said.
"Everyone knew who had won and the kids are not idiots. Telling them a sport like football is not competitive is ridiculous."
Fellow dad Brett Carter, whose five-year-old son Chad has attracted interest from West Bromwich Albion, said the ruling had left parents furious.
"Trying to stop kids playing in leagues and cups is just going to stop them developing," he said.
Pensnett Panthers club secretary Alan Cartwright, who doubles as the league's referees secretary, also hit out at the ban.
"There are a lot of clubs cancelling tournaments for under-sixes and sevens and I think it is stupid," he said.
League committee member Ian Jeffs-Watts posted a comment on its website saying the ruling came directly from the FA.
"To deny both Under 7s and Under 8s the enjoyment of a cup competition, in my opinion, beggars belief, but that's the ruling," he said.
