Mario Pisani devoted a whole programme on Smash TV to it, Dr Hugh Peralta, who is in charge of the Floriana FC Nursery, wrote a three-page letter and at 2am yesterday, Joe Micallef, the general secretary of the Youth Football Association sent in his reaction. Apart from this, there were innumerable phone calls and conversations throughout the week. All this in reaction to the article “As bad as paedophilia”, which appeared last Sunday.

The article was described as “very unfair, an insult and great ingratitude to families saying that ‘it is worse than paedophilia’,” by Mr Micallef, while Dr Peralta said it “is full of generalisations and sweeping statements portraying football nurseries in the worst light and basically lumping (with a small proviso) all nurseries together”.

Actually, the article was quoting parents who told this newspaper what goes on is “worse than paedophilia” while the article itself was given the title “As bad as paedophilia” to highlight the concept that there are other things that can damage a child’s mental and character formation besides sexual paedophilia, and that this includes facing discrimination and perhaps also not being able to move on when one finds oneself in an uncongenial situation because of money issues.

Dr Peralta wrote that the article gives a “very untrue picture of the 44 nurseries with say 400 voluntary organisers catering for about 8,000 to 9,000 children from the age of five to 16 in Malta and Gozo, who get no remuneration, who have dedicated many hours of their free time to ensure that the nursery is a proper place where parents can safely send their children, thus keeping all these children away from more negative activities”.

The article itself pointed out that “all this cannot be alleged about each and every nursery: there are some nurseries which are run very well, but there are others that are downright bad, while in others a good nursery is sometimes undermined by the intrusion, and worse, of the committee”.

Callers to the paper also claimed that while they admit some nurseries are not well run, these are “rarities”.

Further inquiries have shown, for instance, that the Floriana nursery run by Dr Peralta is an excellent one and that Stephen Grima, the Hibs’ new head coach, who appeared with his small daughter on the Smash programme, does his job very well.

But even Mr Micallef, who also took part in the programme (although the president of the Youth FA, Fr Hilary, and the vice-president, Mr Mallia, did not) admits in his letter that “parents should know that the Youth FA has not only ‘cleaned the stables’ but also educated its members by organising two seminars, with the participation of the Commissioner of Children, on the protection of children during sports activities and it has published a booklet in collaboration with the MFA on the subject. Regular seminars and courses in collaboration with sedqa, Appogg and other agencies are held to educate administrators and coaches”.

But he then added: “This does not mean that in spite of what is being done by the Youth FA that there are no nurseries which fail to live up to expectations. But it is one thing to generalise and attack the good work of nurseries as a whole and another to state that there may be exceptions.”

Dr Peralta said: “There are some instances where some points raised occur. But in the end, and in the very short run, such situations cannot in reality survive in a nursery.”

Dr Peralta says he knows of no case where “fathers are reported to have passed considerable sums of money to their sons’ coach to keep them in the team”. But the original sources of the article, plus some of those who called following the article’s appearance, have not only repeated this claim but also added that sometimes gifts in kind are given, from television screens to DVDs.

Dr Peralta says he has never heard of mothers getting away with “throwing themselves at the coach, just to get their sons in the first team”. Again, callers asked why some mothers seem to wear their skimpiest dress when they go to watch their sons play.

Given the article’s title, it was inevitable that the part, which mentioned a paedophilia case, should have surfaced in the reactions.

Dr Peralta wrote that “paedophiles, once noticed, are dismissed: no responsible committee can, and no nursery will be allowed by the parents to function once such a fact becomes proven and known. Recently, the Youth FA has adopted specific regulations, which ensure that dismissal ensues. If as Mr Grima states, he is aware of a case where a nursery employed a paedophile dismissed from another nursery, then it is his duty not simply to allege it but to report it”.

Mr Micallef wrote: “Had your correspondent, instead of generalising, checked with the Youth FA to see what steps it had taken where there was an alleged case of paedophilia, he would have found out that the coach involved was banned from taking part in any Youth FA activity or occupy any post in any nursery in the Youth FA. It is therefore completely untrue and malicious for your correspondent to write that a coach who was found guilty of paedophilia joined another team and started coaching young boys once again.”

From the calls received, it seems this is a fairly known case as it was a mother who claimed her son had been on the receiving end of sexual advances. The nursery in question did sack the coach but he quickly found a post with another, neighbouring team, as coach of the Minors, who are over 18 years old, hence proving Mr Micallef right that this person did not join another team and started to coach young boys again. But some parents disagree with this decision as a Minors coach can still come into contact with small boys, if he is so inclined.

Although Dr Peralta only mentions it in passing, and Mr Micallef none at all, one issue raised by the article expressed the concerns of callers on the Smash programme: the association rule that boys as young as 10, who register with a club, cannot register with another club unless the second club, or the boy’s parents, fork out the registration fee, which amounts to Lm600 for four years.

One parent who called on the programme said she did not know about the legal implications of registering and was told that she should have looked up the Youth FA website. Another parent told this newspaper he could not find anything on the Youth FA website and others, while agreeing, said it was unfair for children so young, to be tied down in such a way to the club, hence the representations to the Commissioner for Children to raise the registration age to 14.

On the other hand, as Dr Peralta wrote, it is true that “the payment is a just contribution for the nursery’s investment in the boy”. A nursery does have to pay for coaches, facilities, competitions etc and this for as long a period – often years – that the boy attends.

While this is generally admitted, some parents have warned that a perception that some nurseries are paying for the parent teams is creeping in. Why otherwise, they asked, should some synthetic pitch football grounds created for nurseries, relegate children to play in the hot afternoons while hiring out the pitch to adult teams in the evening?

Both Mr Micallef and Dr Peralta agree on one issue: the parents’ many faults.

Mr Micallef, while arguing against generalisation, said: “However, the greatest hurdle of the Youth FA, and the nurseries and the children, are quite ironically, sometimes the parents themselves who believe that their sons are a Pele or a Maradona and expect them to behave, and perform, as such. These are the ones who are exerting most pressure on their own children and ruin the football talents these children might possess.”

Dr Peralta wrote that “of course, there is a learning curve for the nursery committee members and for the parents. Mr Grima does not list the parents’ demands. Often parents are unhappy (reasonably so) if their child is not chosen to play but then improperly impute various reasons (eg the coach does not like their son, and so on) denying the true reasons (ie that their son may not be good enough). Parents often give bad examples to their children in being insubordinate, passing remarks and occasionally indeed swearing or using foul language at opponents (if not at team mates) in the presence of their children”.

But what if, for instance, as one caller put it, you see your son sitting out matches for a whole season because someone decided the son of the assistant coach must always play? It may well be the first boy is not as good as the second boy, but it may also be that undue strings are being pulled.

Which brings about two concluding remarks:

The need for some central mechanism whereby children, and parents, who find difficulty in relocating to another nursery can get a second hearing and sort out their problem.

The need for some central mechanism through which Youth FA ensures, more than just by holding seminars, that all nurseries toe the line. In short, the need for a board of appeal structure one can have recourse to in case of problems.