There was something noticeably different at Montview Oval on Saturday. The football was just as energetic, but the sidelines were unusually quiet.
The Northern Suburbs Football Association’s (NSFA) Silence on the Sidelines Round marked the launch of its broader NSFA Respect Program, supported by a $30,000 Great BIG Community Grant from Community Bank Lindfield.
Bright new signs around the ground carried simple messages for spectators: Respect the referee. Be encouraging. Let the players learn. Enjoy the game. There were even lollipops available for parents who needed a little extra help staying silent.
In Short
- The Northern Suburbs Football Association (NSFA) has launched its 'Silence on the Sidelines' round at Montview Oval.
- The initiative is part of a broader NSFA Respect Program, funded by a $30,000 Great BIG Community Grant from Community Bank Lindfield.
- New signage will be rolled out across 80 Sydney football grounds, reminding spectators to swap sideline instructions for supportive cheering.
- NSFA President David Taylor says the program aims to give children the space to make their own decisions, learn from mistakes, and enjoy community sport.
NSFA President David Taylor said the difference was immediately noticeable.
“Genuinely, I haven’t seen this level of respect or this sort of response in probably 20 years of being around football fields. It’s been a phenomenal initiative.”
The aim is to remind adults that junior football is ultimately about children playing, learning and developing their skills.
“It’s about getting back to basics and realising that it’s not the World Cup final. The kids are here to play,” Taylor said.
One of the most important changes, he said, is giving children the space to make their own decisions rather than constantly receiving instructions from the sideline.
“They can think for themselves. They’re able to make their own decisions and make their own mistakes.”
And when mistakes inevitably happen, a quieter sideline can help children recover and move on.
“You’ve made a mistake, you get up and you move on,” Taylor said.
The initiative isn’t about removing all the noise from the game. Instead, it is about changing the nature of that noise.
“The noise you are hearing is supportive. It’s clapping and cheering rather than people constantly giving directions or pointing out what somebody has done wrong,” Taylor said.
The Respect Program is now extending across the association, with signage being distributed to around 80 football grounds across Sydney.
Taylor said the Community Bank Lindfield grant had enabled NSFA to take the initiative much further than originally imagined.
“Having the funding has really helped us elevate it to levels that we didn’t think were possible. I never in my wildest dreams thought we were going to get it to that level.”
For Taylor, the bigger purpose is keeping community sport in perspective. Football should be something children look forward to each weekend – an opportunity to exercise, build friendships, learn teamwork and, most importantly, enjoy themselves.
Deputy Chair of Ku-ring-gai Financial Services Limited, the company that operates the Bendigo Bank franchise that is Community Bank Lindfield, Kristyn Haywood was delighted to be at Montview Oval to see what the Great BIG Community Grant has helped bring to life.
Sometimes supporting young people means encouraging them loudly. Sometimes it means giving them enough space to work things out for themselves.On Saturday, the silence on the sidelines said plenty.
