Thirty–Nil. And the Adults Are Laughing.

My friend’s nephew plays for his town’s D team.

Not the first team.

Not the reserves.

The D team.

The kids love football.

They’re just not very good at it.

Which should be allowed when you’re a child.

Every Saturday, they lose.

Sometimes thirty–nil.

Thirty.

Fucking.

Nil.

And apparently, some parents on the other side find this hilarious.

Grown adults.

Laughing at children.

What a massive achievement.

You drove to a football pitch and found someone smaller than you to humiliate.

My friend is worried about his nephew.

Not because he expects him to become Messi.

Because there’s only so many Saturdays you can get battered before you stop wanting to put your boots on.

The parents dread the matches.

The kids keep losing.

And somewhere in this mess, we’re supposed to be “encouraging sport”.

Are we?

Because this looks like a pretty efficient way to make children hate it.

And no, the answer isn’t to hand everyone a trophy.

Kids can lose.

They can handle disappointment.

But there’s a difference between learning to lose and being served up every weekend so another team can practise celebrating.

Find them opponents at their level.

Give them a bloody game.

Not a weekly humiliation with a referee.

That’s the story behind the Spanish lesson everyone’s talking about in Hong Kong.

Football. Parents. And the adults who could do with growing up.

I’ve recorded a video of the story on the Spanish Super Tutor channel.

I’d really appreciate it if you went and watched it. I’ll leave the link in the comments.

Learn some Spanish.

Then tell me what you think.

Are we encouraging children to play?

Or teaching them not to bother?