THANK God the FA has chosen to go with these rules (The Hunts Post, September 17). I have been worried for some time that we may be training children who would turn out to be social misfits, sporting failures, bullies, big heads and grow into a life of fa

THANK God the FA has chosen to go with these rules (The Hunts Post, September 17). I have been worried for some time that we may be training children who would turn out to be social misfits, sporting failures, bullies, big heads and grow into a life of failed careers where they may be attracted to smoking, alcohol and drugs like all us adults of today who never had these guidelines.

I think we should go further and suggest that in this age group we do not actually use goal posts. This would make it impossible to score, thus ensuring that nobody can win or, more importantly, lose.

Furthermore, I would like to suggest that we do not use a ball. I have often seen children get tackled and lose the ball, and I can tell that some of them do not like it. Only last week I thought a player looked most displeased when he was tackled. I remembering thinking there and then that this boy would struggle from this point in his life. Thank heavens we have counsellors to help him recover.

So, no goal posts and no balls: that would ensure even play where no one suffers. The gains from this would be huge. Clubs would save money on equipment and time erecting goals, and staff would not have to bother writing match reports every week because every match would be a draw.

We could have a standard report that we could forward to the papers at the start of the season so that they may publish it for each game. This would remove the worry that six-year-olds would read the newspaper (you know how they do) and confirm that the score was what they actually knew it was on Saturday.

We really must encourage youngsters to train and try hard so that they can draw better each week and those teams who are not drawing so easily should continue to be encouraged so that they can draw more confidently.

And, finally, each team at a match should have the same number of supporters, so that these poor little players do not feel sad if the other team's supporters cheer louder than theirs. The referee could have a little clapometer in his pocket (instead of the score card) and, if one side is louder than the other, he could instruct some of them not to cheer to even things up. This could be done by showing a new pink card with "Shhhh" written on it.

Still, at least we can rest assured the FA are on the case and may even take the new rules to the older age groups.

ADRIAN GIBBS

Parkhall Road

Somersham