IOM Under 9s football

The IOM FA has recently taken the decision to ban competitve football matches for under 9s. A recent "tournament" at Onchan was changed to a series of friendly matches where all children were to be considered winners.

The IOM has a great history of sporting achievement, and this is in danger of being compromised by IOM FA officials who seem to have no knowledge of the game that young children play.

To have children for the first 3 to 4 years of their playing life, doing a sport they love, and not being allowed to win, deprives them of a reason for partaking. Children are naturally competitive and children will be able to work out who has won by the simple process of adding up how many goals were scored.

There are three annual tournaments on the island for under 9s. The last, The magic carpets cup, was oversubscribed and was enjoyed by all the children there. To seek to ban these tournaments smacks of political correctness at its worst. Even England has not gone this far in its pursuit of creating everyone equal with regular under 9 football leagues etc.

We celebrate achievement in schools academically, so why are we not allowed to celebrate those children, and their coaches who work for free, who put in extra effort in their chosen sport.

This petition seeks to advise the IOM FA of the depth of feeling regarding this decision and to request them to think again and allow our children to take part in events they love, while also encouraging children to enjoy healthy outdoor activities away from the games console.