Celeste Harrison
15/09/2025
As a parent from a competing club, I've seen repeated patterns of poor behaviour from Palm Beach FC that go far beyond healthy competition. Last year's grand final saw around 30 "supporters" stand behind the goals yelling personal abuse at our boys for the entire game and it went unchecked. This season, in both fixtures at Palm Beach, the refereeing was consistently biased, with blatant fouls ignored and questionable calls repeatedly going against our team. It felt less like fair football and more like a stacked deck.
On top of that, the culture of disrespect was clear. I personally overheard a coach encouraging a player to "pull a shirt discreetly" with the promise of a reward. After the grand final just passed, only two Palm Beach players showed the basic sportsmanship of shaking hands with their opponents. The rest walked away.
Football is meant to be about development, teamwork, and respect. Sadly, what I've witnessed from Palm Beach is a culture that normalises abuse, gamesmanship, and poor sportsmanship - from the sidelines all the way onto the pitch. These are boys, not professionals, and they deserve better role models than this.