Cooper, a former New Zealand Rugby president and All Black, applauded the decision of Waikato Junior Rugby League and Waikato Rugby in calling out bad sideline behaviour.<\/p>\n
“Enough is enough”, he said.<\/p>\n
“That’s where it needed to be called out and unfortunately the consequence is that a lot of others will miss out… that’s extremely disappointing.”<\/p>\n
Council members across the Waikato have previously expressed their dismay against sideline abuse alongside Sport Waikato, which received local government funding.<\/p>\n
Too much negativity can tarnish the on-field experience \u2013 a defining factor in if a child continues to play sport, Cooper said.<\/p>\n
![\"Sport](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/sport-waikato-chief-executive-matthew-cooper-BWGZSXVSLJHW3OP6EP2TIIWIRU.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Sport Waikato chief executive Matthew Cooper. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n
“The adults or those on the sideline aren’t playing the game but they’re affecting the game. They’re affecting the experience for the young person who just wants to play with their mates,” he said.<\/p>\n
“They [adults] need to understand the impact of their behaviour because if the environment does become negative, aggressive and intimidating, they’ll stop enjoying it and sometimes they stop playing altogether. That’s our real concern.”<\/p>\n
When asked why there\u2019s been recent visible spikes of abuse in the Waikato, Cooper said the “actual physical and verbal abuse is not as high in the Waikato as it is around the country”.<\/p>\n
He added the problem was felt worldwide, with parents wanting to achieve through their children.<\/p>\n
“There’s no other choice but to turn up to support your child or support whoever’s on the field playing.”<\/p>\n
The majority of the parents on the sideline were behaving respectfully, Cooper stressed, adding it was a small minority that created the fallout, and ultimately led to kids not being able to play on the weekend.<\/p>\n
“We’ve got to remember it’s junior sport,” he added.<\/p>\n
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including a dramatic explosion of SpaceX rocket, and the American star who\u2019s obsessed with haka. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
A clear outline of what is and isn\u2019t acceptable sideline behaviour at the beginning of the season to all supporters was a solution Cooper suggested coaches and managers use.<\/p>\n
In the same breath, he added hammering in what consequences would be enforced if standard\u2019s weren\u2019t met was critical.<\/p>\n
“I would maintain that becomes not an option but a priority and action for every sports team… we can help provide those set guidelines,” he added.<\/p>\n
Sport Waikato\u2019s Positive Vibes Only initiative has helped create \u201cgreater coach awareness and accountability\u201d across the region, Cooper said, by reinforcing the role coaches play in keeping players happy, engaged and wanting to participate through positive messaging.<\/p>\n
But for parents on the sidelines this weekend, Cooper said the “one goal” should simply be making sure the player they are supporting is excited to come back and play again next week, regardless of the result.<\/p>\n
\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parents acting up on the sidelines of sports games aren\u2019t helping their kids, a sport boss says \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[9001,111,139,69,97379,213],"class_list":["post-450088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-hamilton-waikato","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sport-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}