The president of the Dublin and District Schoolboys League (DDSL) Paddy Dempsey has said they are targeting 'all adults' who were involved in violence that led to seven matches being abandoned in the last six weeks.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1, Dempsey revealed that they can hand out suspensions and heavy fines after a number of 'mass brawls' reportedly took place at matches. It's believed that 'substitutes, manager/coaches, and several spectators' were all involved in the violence.
He said that clashes between players on the pitch seemed to be the cause of the incidents, but added that the children are being influenced by the actions of adults who got involved.
"We have about 800 games every weekend that we control and there's 20,000 children playing," he told the News At One.
"In some of the games, incidents happened where players - for whatever reason - feel aggrieved and they push or strike out at one another and it leads to coaches and spectators running on and becoming involved in a brawl and the game ends up in a free for all.
"We are targeting all adults. The children will play and will follow what they see the adults doing and that's the problem.
"If the adults become involved and they start throwing punches and pushing and verbally abusing officials, the young players then do likewise and will end up in a serious incident or injury to some player or a parent.
"Because it's players against players and adults against adults, and adults against children which is even more frightening - pushing and striking out at young children on the day."
He continued: "It seems to be a red mist comes over people on the sideline and they decide to get involved for whatever reason. I don't think they realise the seriousness of what they're doing. They think because it's a football game or a sporting occasion that it's ok to do this.
"If this happened on the street, they would be arrested and charged with assault. The sooner they realise it's not acceptable in society, it's really not acceptable in sport and even more so with children's football."
He went on to explain that in addition to handing out suspensions and fines, Dempsey cautioned that removing individuals or clubs will be the next step in trying to tackle violence in the league.
"The best we can do is suspend the players that incite the brawl in the first place. That's the easy part. We can then bring in the managers and the clubs and we can heavily fine them and suspend them.
"But the ultimate sanction will be to remove them from the league and that's where we're heading now."
"We can [do that] but they have the right to appeal. Last year or the year before, we expelled a manager for 10 years and we thought maybe that would set an example but it's starting to creep back in."
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