"over my dead body would I let my son play in that league again."

Those were the thoughts of one angry dad who has experienced first hand the ugly side of youth football in the city in the 21st century.

Following our recent reports of trouble on the touchlines of the MK and Border Counties League, the Citizen has spoken to various clubs and individuals – lots of whom share the opinion that something is quite wrong with the state of football at grass roots level.

One parent got in touch to explain how he was 'punched in the back of the head' and his son was 'bullied out of a club.'

Another said a 'culture of bullying' is forcing kids to quit playing.

"One dad said: I was the referee for a match in which my son was playing but when one of the teams scored a goal an irate father entered the field of play and punched me when I walked away. If that wasn't bad enough I was then tripped by the manager and kicked on the floor."

He also went on to explain how his 13-year-old son came home from training in tears because of the attitude of his coach who had taken a dislike to him.

"I have seen various adults tell players to injure others in games. Young refs are abused and opposition parents subjected to threats of violence," he added.

"One person accused a 14-year-old boy refereeing his first game of being a cheat and needing glasses – he never refereed again.

"The league fails to take action against coaches and managers who continue to abuse kids, officials and adults. There is no secret about who the worst offenders are and one day someone is going to get seriously injured."

A spokesman for one club accused of being behind such incidents responded by saying: "We've had two incidents that I know of this season and I don't think we're the worst."

But he did admit that the club banned one manager for four weeks following an incident earlier in the season, and went on to admit: "Maybe one of our managers shouldn't be coaching."

A spokesman for the league refused to single out any individual clubs for their bad behaviour, saying: "Things have got better in the last couple of years and we have no concerns about any one club."

It's not us, it's you, say clubs

Last Thursday's report on the number of people deciding to quit youth football provoked many suggestions by clubs that an overemphasis on penalising clubs for 'not submitting their score on time' and 'hitting people with paperwork' was also a reason behind the drop in numbers of players and coaches.

One club claimed running up fines of more than £1,000 in a year was possible but the league point to a drop in overall fines so far this season.