A Parramatta junior league club is pleading for matches to be played behind closed doors as spectator violence reaches epidemic proportions.
The Greystanes Devils club wants crowds to be locked out of games in a bid to stop violent incidents involving unruly parents and fans.
“It is sad it has come to this – there have always been problems but it has just reached crazy proportions this year,” a Greystanes source who feared for his safety if he was named told Wide World of Sports.
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“Some of the incidents this year have been just terrible.
“We had a parent jumping the dugout in a recent game trying to get onto the field to fight players – and remember these kids are under 13.
“He went to the Parramatta junior league judiciary and got 16 weeks – he should have got a life ban.
“The kids see the adults behaving like this and then they start to act up too – it’s a vicious cycle and it needs to stop.
A crowd watches a junior rugby league game. Nine
“That game was abandoned but we play the same team again in a few weeks – people are afraid.
“Our referees cop terrible abuse and they are just kids.
“We have put several proposals to the Parramatta Junior League with a lockout being one.
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“We are disappointed by their response to the obvious problems – they seem in denial and are trying to keep it all quiet.”
In extreme cases in senior European and South American football, officials have played games before empty stadiums for fear of crowd violence.
But this is believed to be a first in rugby league.
The Parramatta club provided the following comment.
“At no stage has the Greystanes club asked us to play games behind closed doors.”