It may have escaped your notice that a soccer superstar – David Beckham – was recently sent off while watching a game his seven-year-old son was playing in.

His crime? To publicly challenge the referee when he gave a player his marching orders for stopping an opponent from scoring – the official presumably saw the offence as a “professional” foul.

In David’s own words:

“I said to the ref, ‘Come on, he’s seven years old, referee, you can’t send him off’.

“He looked at me and was like, ‘Yes, I can.’ And I was like, ‘OK, well, you can’t, he’s seven years old.’ And he came over and gave me a red card. He told me to get out of the park.”

Let’s ignore the rather bizarre notion that a seven-year-old is able to commit a professional foul and focus on the behaviour of the parent.

Was Mr Beckham in the wrong? Of course he was. No one should challenge the decision of a referee.

But what about the seven-year-old who was sent off? His actions had big consequences!

Today’s article – How to help your players cope with mistakes – should be required reading for coaches who have David Beckham’s son in their team!

Yours in soccer,

Steve Watson, Editor