Children’s football teams have been banned from publishing the results of their league matches because the Football Association believes that it puts young people under too much pressure.

The new rules, which come into force in September and will affect tens of thousands of teams with players aged under 8, have caused anger among some parents who believe that young players should be entitled to know how successful they have been.

Kevin Warrington, who managed Townhill Emperors under8s in the Eastleigh and District Mini League in Hampshire last season, said that his players did not need to be protected from poor results. “It is a step backwards,” he said. “The league is established and has become a good introduction to football for kids and people know what they are getting into.

“If you look at our results last year we only won one game and we lost one of our first games 21-0, but the boys were playing together as a team. They were making new friends and enjoying the environment in which they were doing that. They didn’t care if they lost.”

The rule means that all leagues in this age group will have to keep results private for the first time in ten years. A similar ban was imposed on under 7 teams five years ago. Under 8 teams will also be prevented from competing in knockout tournaments where cups and medals are handed out to winners.

League officials said that although they had their concerns they had no option but to adopt the policy.

Graham Spencer, secretary of Colden Common, said it was strange to suggest that there should be no competitive element in football. “We accept that it’s going to be noncompetitive, but I am not sure how you can actually play football noncompetitively. If you are trying to put the ball in the back of the net, which you have to do to win a game, you have to compete and beat the opposition to do that.”

But other parents believe that children need to be protected from aggressive fathers who take the game too seriously. Paul Cooper, who founded a campaign called Give Us Back Our Game, said that some parent coaches put too much emphasis on winning and neglected children who did not achieve results.

“Coaches are leaving very young children out of teams and making them do trials,” Mr Cooper said. “A lot of fun had gone out of the game for the children. The parents would say, ‘You’re in second place. You’ve got to win the next game’.”

He suggested that parents who tried to beat the ban by contacting other teams to compile results would be reprimanded by their county association. He acknowledged that there had been resistance to the change, which was quietly approved by the Football Association Council in May, but said that something had to be done.

“It has become like dog fighting. There is a sort of pride for these parents. They’re living it through their child, and for some people it is a place to let off steam. They go completely crazy when their team scores.”

A spokesman for the association said: “This is about creating an environment where the children can learn and develop their skills and enjoy the game without the pressure of having to get a result. They can start taking it a little more seriously as they get older.”

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