The All Blacks perform the haka during the 1991 World Cup. Reader Tracy Austin-Brydon is a fan of the sporting infrastructure which got them there without the help of pushy parents. Photograph: Getty Images/Getty Images
I hope that any parents who recognised themselves in your article (Are pushy parents spoiling sport?, 12 September) also managed to read the rugby article in the Sport supplement on the same day (How to build an All Black). The New Zealand development infrastructure that supports child and youth rugby is phenomenal and highly competitive, yet there is no mention of the sort of parental “support” described in Emine Saner’s article. This may be something to do with the respect demanded of its charges plus, in rugby union, the referee’s word has historically been king, something learned from a young age. Perhaps other sports would also do well to learn from this behavioural ethos.What is more alarming is the issue of those who push their sporting youngsters for uncharitable reasons. Anyone who views an offspring’s ability as their own meal ticket to status and future financial security should, quite frankly, be given a pitchside ban for life.
Tracy Austin-Brydon
St Clears, Carmarthenshire
