The league secretary of a Dundee grassroots football organisation has quit and claimed the pressure of the role was “unbearable”.
Stuart Chaplin says he is resigning from his role at the Dundee and District Youth Football Association (DDYFA) with immediate effect.
It comes a little over a week after he and two other officials walked away from the organisation’s East Region Committee amid a series of claims about rule-breaking clubs and forged team lines.
The trio also raised concerns about the SFA’s new Comet system for registering players.
Widespread problems have been reported with the system, resulting in some teams failing to be registered in time for the start of the new season last month.
Workload ‘became too much’
In a post on the grassroots organisation’s website, Mr Chaplin wrote: “With immediate effect I have resigned from the DDYFA.
“The pressure has become unbearable.
“I walk away feeling absolutely terrible and hope this doesn’t affect youth football in our association.
“There are a lot of great clubs and coaches working within the DDYFA and thanks to them for help and assistance.
“There are also some teams and coaches within the DDYFA that are an embarrassment to youth football and have no place in youth football.”
Speaking to The Courier a day after the post, Mr Chaplin claimed the workload as a result of Comet was “outrageous”.
He added: “I was was working 12 to 14 hours a day on football stuff and it all became too much.
“My wife was giving me a hard time because of the amount of time I was spending on it.
“I think (the SFA) have bitten off more than they can chew with this system.”
Mr Chaplin says, in response to the teething problems, the SFA introduced a grace period to allow unregistered players and coaches to take part in fixtures.
This, he admits, caused him serious concern.
He added: “Since I’ve taken over the league secretary role at the DDYFA, the one thing I wanted to do was tighten up the rules around getting the team lines in and coaches.
“I want to see kids playing football and I’m not here to stop that but for me, was an extremely serious matter.
“The amount of abuse you get from coaches and parents is also too much.
“I think they forget I’m a volunteer.”
SFA offering training on new system
A spokesperson for the SFA said: “Since the launch of Comet, which is the established industry standard software and app-based technology embraced by leagues and national associations across European and world football, more than 47,000 grassroots players across Scotland have been registered on the system – a figure that is in line with this stage of the season in recent years prior to Comet’s introduction – while more youth players are now registered than at the same stage last season.
“The Scottish FA have committed to extensive training and online tutorials for users at all levels of the game both before and after the launch of the Comet system and we are actively providing additional support to any users that require it.
“We reiterate that the Scottish FA has put in place mechanisms to ensure that there is no impediment to any matches going ahead as normal in the initial stages following the system’s launch, and that if any league has opted not to play matches this is not as a result of the technology upgrade but a decision made by that league or organisation.”
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