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Football should only be shown on TV after 9pm because of the bad example it sets to children, a leading head teacher has said.
Verbal abuse, cheating and violence among players are commonplace, Martin Ward, deputy leader of the Secondary Heads Association claimed.
He said copycat behaviour by pupils made teaching "infinitely more difficult".
Mr Ward also called for heads working in difficult schools to be paid more.
He wants them to get salaries of up to £150,000.
Loss of 'moral authority'
He told the SHA's annual conference in Brighton that broadcasters lose their "moral authority" when showing footballers' bad behaviour before the 9pm 'watershed' - after which programmes of a more violent or sexual nature, or containing swearing, are permitted.
Mr Ward said: "Violence, verbal abuse, foul language, cheating and defiance of authority occur sometimes in schools."
"They occur much more frequently outside school and, in particular, in professional football, often without the player even being cautioned."
If football is not shown only after 9pm, then "not at all" would be better, Mr Ward argued.
Parental responsibilities
Salaries of £150,000 for head teachers dealing with the most "challenging" schools should be "commonplace" he said. The current maximum in England is £120,000.
Last week Tony Blair and Education Secretary Ruth Kelly demanded more parental involvement in running schools.
Agreements should be signed between them and head teachers, stating what pupils are entitled to, they said.
But Mr Ward argued that there should be as much emphasis on the "responsibilities of parents to the school" as "the responsibilities of the schools towards parents".
'Whitehall milkman'
Schools are being overburdened with initiatives, with education "being kicked around like a political football", he warned.
In particular, plans for random drug-testing and on-the-spot penalties for truancy are criticised.
Mr Ward said: "The school milk delivery may have been abolished by Margaret Thatcher, but the Whitehall milkman still delivers these policies, almost daily, to the school doorstep.
"Fortunately, most schools have had the good sense to ignore many of them and, like milk on the doorstep, if you leave it long enough, it eventually goes off."
Addressing the SHA conference on Friday, Ms Kelly promised to deal with the 'initiative-isers' within the Department for Education and Skills
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Is this bloke for real? Actually, scrap that because it seems he's deadly serious. Show live footy after 9pm? It's totally unworkable, and it's bad enough sitting in a freezing cold Anfield on a Saturday afternoon, let alone a freezing cold mid-week winter night with a 9pm kick off! Madness! I bet he'd moan even more if his pupils were going to school half asleep having been up watching a football match until after 11pm the night before.
Yes I agree that the players have responsibilities to youngsters because they are role models. But this suggestion is nothing short of pathetic.
He also makes the suggestion that head teachers in difficult schools should be paid more - I'm sure that will go down well. I real incentive for head teachers to combat bad behaviour in their schools - they get paid less. Yeah right.
When it comes to dicouraging bad language in youngsters, the responsibility lies mainly with the parents, as I'm sure those of you with kids would agree.
Thoughts please?
