Parents banned from smoking on sidelines of children’s football in Wales even though it’s outdoors

PARENTS have been banned from smoking on the sidelines of children’s football matches in Wales – even though it’s outdoors.

Spectators on the touchline at all 522 of the country’s junior clubs will no longer be allowed to have a ciggie during games and training sessions for children aged five to 13. 

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Parents have been banned from smoking on the touchline of children’s football matches in Wales[/caption]

The measure is initially being brought in this month at under-12s matches, before being phased into under-14s games across a two-year period – with a view of extending the initiative to older children.

As part of the legislation will be the job of individual clubs to write a no-smoking rule into their code of conduct and coaches and club officials will be tasked with enforcing it.

Health minister Vaughan Gething claimed the touchline ban would “help protect children from seeing smoking as an acceptable and normal behaviour” and “de-normalise” the habit. 

But Simon Clark, director of the smoker’s group Forest, was critical of the move and said that a quick smoke on the touchline posed no actual health threat. 

He said: “Smoking in the open air does not put anyone else’s health at risk, nor is there evidence that the sight of a non-family member smoking pitchside encourages children to start.

“The number of adults who smoke on the sidelines is extremely small and most eyes will be on the football.”

It comes as part of wider efforts by the Welsh government to make the country’s public spaces smoke-free.

The government also plans to ban smoking in playgrounds, hospital grounds and playgrounds by March next year. 

And this legislation will be enforced by local authorities – meaning that anyone caught having a quick smoke on the touchline could be slapped with a fixed-penalty notice.

And Health Minister Vaughan Gething even claims that a reduction in smokers will help the country kick Covid-19.

He said: “Whilst the evidence on smoking and COVID-19 is still emerging, smokers generally have an increased risk of contracting respiratory infections, such as COVID-19, and so the introduction of these requirements are supporting our response to the pandemic.”