Football South has been alerted to the incident where a coach allegedly made a young player rub his nose in dirt. (Photo / 123RF)

Football coach allegedly made child rub his nose in the dirt

Author: Jono Edwards, Otago Daily Times,
Publish Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2018, 8:44AM

Football South is investigating allegations a children's football coach made a player rub his nose in dirt and then "gloated" about it during a Dunedin game.

However, the organisation is also warning the incident should not become a "witch hunt" until more is known.

Dunedin parent Mark Joyce posted on social media on Saturday saying he was watching the 13th grade match when the opposing team's coach made one of the players "rub their nose in dirt".

The players were between 11 and 13 years old, he said.

After this, the coach allegedly turned to parents and "gloated as to what he made the kid do".

Joyce confronted the coach after the game, which led to a heated exchange.

Joyce said yesterday he would lay a complaint with Football South regarding the incident.

Until then, he would not name the team or coach so "due process" could be followed.

He did not know why the coach made the child rub his nose into the ground, he said.

"One of the parents said it was something the coach did to make them look at their feet, and he wasn't looking at his feet."

The coach bragged like a "rooster going around a farmyard" to parents following the incident, Mr Joyce said.

"That guy's obviously going to have to justify himself at some time."

Football South chief executive Chris Wright said he had been alerted to the incident.

He received information, both from people defending the coach and from those expressing upset at the behaviour, he said.

He would not name the club, but said once he had received more information, the organisation would follow processes that involved speaking to the coach.

"Like many sports, we take the quality of experience of the players very seriously.

"But also, the information we have at the moment is quite vague, so we need to gather more information."

Until Joyce contacted him, it was hard to comment, he said.

"I think it's really important that it's not a witch hunt. While on the face of it this sounds concerning, and certainly something we need to look into, we don't want to make any judgements at this stage."