SHIRLEY SIDELINE DAD FILMING UNDER-11 SOCCER FOR "THE TRIBUNAL" NOW ON HIS THIRD MEMORY CARD
There is no tribunal. There has never been a tribunal. He's still filming.
A Shirley father has been filming every minute of his son's under-11 football season on a gimbal-mounted phone. He says the footage is going to "the tribunal".
Darryn Wills, 43, has been at every Saturday fixture at the QEII fields since April. He sets up ten metres behind the goal line in a camping chair. He narrates into a lapel mic clipped to his Kathmandu vest. His son plays left back for a team with no disciplinary matters outstanding.
"That ref last week was a fucking disgrace," Wills told The Daily Yarn, cueing up a slow-mo clip of what looked like a throw-in. "Watch the elbow. Watch it. The tribunal will see the elbow." Asked which tribunal, Wills said: "The proper one. Football one. They know me."
A club official, who asked not to be named because Darryn also films the committee meetings, said no such body exists at junior level. "There's a disputes process. It's a Google Form. He hasn't filled it in. He just emails us WeTransfer links titled EVIDENCE_PACK_07_FINAL_v3."
The referee, a 15-year-old on his second season, told his mum he didn't want to do the under-11s anymore. "The dad with the camera keeps yelling my full name," he said. Wills has since bought a shotgun mic "for the crowd audio".
As of Saturday, Wills's footage totals 46 hours across three memory cards. One is labelled, in Vivid, "ROUND ONE".
Know someone this is about? Send it to them.
Spotted something like this in your area?
Send us a photo and a sentence. We'll write the article.
SUBMIT A YARN →Free. Anonymous if you want. Takes 60 seconds.
Reader Letters
Trev_Hornby
This bloke needs a hobby.
MumOf3
Imagine being that ref. Poor kid!
Garry (Halswell)
He's just passionate about the game! Not everyone understands real dedication. Back in my day, we'd have loved this kind of commitment at the club. Sure, he goes above and beyond, but, really, it's what makes the sport exciting.
coaching_dad
This is why sports should be fun, not full of shameful behaviour by parents.
tired_in_riccarton
Why not just join the committee if you care so much? Seems to me like he wants to be a star himself.
wayne1987
Bloody hell, I hope they're paying this ref extra.
ropeable_dave
Mate, the kid's 15, let him be! It's just a game.
oldref_kyle
Fucking cameras everywhere these days, makes the game rotten. When I was a ref at Hagley, we only needed a notebook.
ShirleyWatcher
@oldref_kyle Got to agree. It's disgusting how this tech makes everyone think they're an expert.