Story highlights Children as young as six referee their own matches

Dutch FA has experimented in last two years

Scheme aims to tackle abuse from touchline

(CNN) Imagine a six-year-old Diego Costa refereeing a football match. Given his combustible temperament it's likely there would only be one winner in a game he was taking part in -- the team he was playing for.

At first glance the idea of six or seven-year-olds refereeing their own games would seem to be a recipe for chaos. But, that's exactly what the Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) has been experimenting with over the last two years in a scheme dubbed "Fair Play Football."

The KNVB scheme is designed to minimize the pressures kids face from sometimes overbearing parents on the touchline.

"In this way, children who are just getting to know football are more free to experience the game, instead of listening to instructions of their parents or coaches," said a KNVB spokeswoman.

Speak to any parent of a girl or boy playing football and many will be able to recount experiences of parents bawling -- sometimes foulmouthed -- instructions from the sidelines.

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