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As manager of a local football side, Darren Spencer was used to dealing with pushy parents.

Every week he would wince at the barbed comments directed at his young charges, often finding the tensions on the touchline distracted him from the game at hand.

Desperate to find a way to keep the crowds at bay, he began dreaming up ideas to ensure they stayed a few feet away from the sidelines.
"Often it wasn't our fans that were the problem but those who came and watched from opposition teams," recalls Darren.

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"The league suggested we make a 'safe zone' by putting cones two or three metres away from the touchlines but as soon as the game kicked off everyone just ignored them.

"It was then that I started trying out different things. I wanted something that you could set up quickly before a game and would stay put right up to the final whistle."

The dad-of-two got to work in the back garden of his Whitkirk home, experimenting with various prototypes for what would eventually become the Logopost 1000.

"My wife thought I was mad in the early days, as did all the players
and parents. I went through lots of different designs and there were quite a few funny looks.

"I knew it needed to be something that could support a rope of some sort but I didn't want to use the traditional shepherd's hook steel poles."

It was here that Darren's day job helping to design and manufacture hoses for dairies, breweries and pharmaceutical firms came in handy.

Eventually the 45-year-old hit on the idea of using a strong but flexible plastic which could be looped in half to allow a rope to pass through the top of it.

"It was perfect because they staying in the ground but were completely safe. If a player fell on them they would come to no harm and the plastic would just spring back up again."

He made a set for his team – Colton Juniors under-11s – which proved such a success that soon other sides in the club expressed an interest in having them for their own games.

Realising the potential of his idea, Darren – whose sons George, 11, and Joe, 18, both play for the club – formed a company, Touchline Logos, with his wife Anne.

He even roped in his retired parents to help out with production, his dad James helping to make the posts and mum Beryl, a seamstress, producing the fabric panels for club or advertising logos.

Now several other clubs have bought the Logopost and there is even interest from the Football Association which is considering employing it in their leagues in Manchester and annual football galas.

There is even talk of the FA making it compulsory for clubs to have such a device for keeping spectators away from the pitch, which would make Darren's idea a real money-spinner.

"People have said to me, 'You should go on Dragons' Den', but I don't really need the money for it because everything is already up and running."

Darren has noticed other firms are now trying to emulate his success by coming up with their own versions of his idea.

But he insists they are still a few years' behind his design and has protected his invention by taking out a patent on it.

"At the moment it pays enough for us to go on holiday but if things keep going the way they are it could easily develop into a full-time job.

"It's exciting because there has been so much interest in it and it just keeps growing. Who knows where it could lead?"