- by John Brindley

A football-loving woman, who began her love affair with the game by watching Doncaster Rovers at Belle Vue, has been appointed by the FA as the country's first Grassroots Respect ambassador.

Deborah Wyatt, 46, now based in the Reading area, has since become an avid follower of the Royals, but has never forgotten her own soccer roots.

"My family comes from Doncaster and my late father used to take me to Belle Vue in the 1970s. It sparked my interest in the game and I have been captivated ever since."

"I've followed Rovers' rise over the last few years with great interest and it was very exciting for me when they won promotion into The Championship and were therefore in the same division as Reading.

"I've been to all three matches between the clubs since then, including the 0-0 draw at Reading this term."

"It's unfortunate that both sides are in the lower reaches of The Championship at the moment, but I hope that will soon improve."

"Things get a bit competitive with my brother-in-law, a Rovers fan, whenever the two clubs meet but, apart from when they play Reading, I always wish Donny well."

Deborah works mostly in the field of youth soccer and that was how her appointment came about.

She began her mission last year when son Ben, now 16, was involved in an East Berkshire Youth League match where the air turned bright blue and parents, a manager and even a linesman pitched in."It was a game between the top and second placed teams and there was so much verbal abuse flying around that the referee almost put his whistle down and called it off. I had e-mails from fellow parents that afternoon asking me as the secretary of the club what I was going to do about it."

She then began taking the Respect message directly to clubs within the league by hosting illustrated talks and admits she didn't really know then what she was starting. "It's now taking over as I do three or four talks every week as well as my day job in education," she says. "I do it because this is a passion of mine - I've lost myself in it."

Deborah emphasises that her message is aimed both at 'gorilla fathers' and 'snidey mothers' who both make the already difficult tasks of managers and officials a nightmare."They really needed to take a step back and think what they were shouting, especially when you are on a public park with other innocent folk around," she says. "Although it's early days this season, I honestly think that the message is getting through."

"Respect was founded originally to try to keep referees from quitting the game and that's very important, but we do need to educate the parents and spectators on the Respect programme."

"The referees, in my opinion, are those who generally promote Respect by keeping their own counsel and not verbally attacking everyone around them."