Totally agree with Scooby Blue. No wonder employers say British school-leavers are unemployable.
Kids learn from what they see around them and this one is effectively being told it's alright to dump something important, like his education, for a football match that he can watch on tv anyway.
So in later life he'll have the attitude that it's ok to throw a sickie if he's a bit hungover or has used all his holidays and wants to go to a European game. Typical attitude of putting self before his responsibility to others or his own future. That's the way British society has gone.
I tore a strip of my (grown up) son when he put himself before his other responsibilities recently. He's never seen me or his mother do that. Told him he wouldn't get any financial help from me because of that and would have to sort himself out.
My daughter went to a private school because we knew she would get far more out of it than the local state school, which was all style and no substance. I'd be well off now I hadn't done that but her education was more important than a nice holiday, 50" plasma tv or flash car. It was interesting that the majority of kids were from ethnic minority backgrounds (Indian, Chinese, Jewish, etc) as these are the groups that recognise the value of education. They want their kids to do better than them whereas most indigenous British ones are happy for their kids to be no different to them and think they shouldn't aim above their station.
So this kid has a job waiting for him when he leaves school does he? Doctor? Lawyer? Accountant? What if it doesn't work out in some way and he has to make his own way?
So that's a big, fat no from me.