A Tale of Two Teams

I have been struggling for some hours with how to write this post.  As usual, a straight forward approach seems best. So, here we go.

Approximately a month ago our U17 team played against a league rival. During the course of action the opponent’s goalkeeper suffered a shoulder injury as a result of contact with one of our players. The play was clean as our player was clearly first to the ball. The contact that caused inury was made by the ball and most unfortunate. I have taught my team that when an injury occurs to an opponent our player involved will shake hands with the injured player, apologize, inquire that they are okay and wish them luck.  This is exactly what happened on this occasion. I also met the injured opponent as he came off the field and offered words of regret over his injury and of encouragement that he would be okay.

Yesterday afternoon we faced this same league rival in the championship match of a tournament. On a clear goal scoring opportunity an opposing player took down our player going in on goal.  A foul was called but no card yellow or red issued by the Center Referee despite protestations from his Assistant Referee and me, of course.

Shortly after the first incident the same opposing player again took down one of our players as he was in behind the defense. This time the foul was violent, reckless and resulted in a serious injury to our player.  Once again, over the protestations, request and demand of the Assistant Referee the Center Referee declined to issue either a yellow or red card to the player.

Just to be absolutely clear, there were two obvious straight red card infractions by the same player without any penalty to the offending player.  The referee did not so much as verbally address the offending player. The second foul resulted in serious injury to our player.

Aside from horrible officiating what has bothered me most is the opposing coach, someone whom I respected, did not address the situation by removing the player from the match. Furthermore, there was no remorse shown for the blatant actions resulting in serious injury to our player. The offending player never approached to apologize or check on our players’ condition. The opposing coach did not ask of his condition or really even acknowledge the incident in any manner.

Shortly thereafter we lost another player to injury when he was undercut while in the air. Once again, no remorse, no apology, no inquiry as to the condition of the player. I would hate to think the opponents were intentionally targeting our players, but the lack of remorse and concern for their well being certainly leaves the situation open to interpretation.

"Sports do not build character. They reveal it."
John Wooden (1910-2010

There are 6 pillars of character; Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, Citizenship.  While our team is certainly not perfect I feel these pillars were largely absent from our opponents during this championship match.  Perhaps it was because we went up 3-0 early and won the match handily. Maybe it was the adversity of losing that revealed our opponents character or lack thereof. The incidents all occurred in the second half of the match when our lead had been established. I cannot be sure.  The (in)actions of the opposing coach certainly exasperated the situation as his intimidation of the referee went above and beyond simple gamesmanship to seemingly condone and encourage the thuggery being committed by members of his team. 

At the end of the day, amidst the jubilation of winning a championship mingled the sad realization that a once friendly rivalry based on mutual respect had taken a very serious turn for the worse.