Win at all costs or put your players first, what would you have done….

I am struggling big time with a situation that is beyond my comprehension and calls into question the integrity & sportsmanship of teams and leagues. Rules are rules is not as black & white as you may thin for everyone at least……..

A title deciding match, an issue over cards, both teams and referee agreed to an arrangement that satisfied everyone and more than met the needs of the rule ‘no cards no play’, both teams and referee agreed the match should go ahead and so it did, everyone happy!! A tough match, both sides were playing their socks off, after all, the title was up for grabs, great game, end to end stuff, what grassroots is all about, eventually there was a winner & they celebrated their win in true footballing fashion!!!

 

 

The result was confirmed on the website and it made it official!!! Well done lads, 10 years old, your 4th season together and your first trophy!!! Until…….a complete jobsworth, absent at the start of the match I may add and not party to any discussions & agreements, decides that they will put in a complaint about the cards! That’s fine, because you’ve not been entirely honest in your complaint have you.

Everything must be OK because an invite to the league presentation lands in our inbox inviting the players to receive their trophy at a presentation day, happy days, all the lads are super excited & looking forward to sharing the stage with other champions.

Until the inbox pings again and gives us 48 hours notice for a replay of the match, well talk about gobsmacked! Do you mean that I had to face these lads and tell them that they match that they had played in all good faith, won honestly and fairly had to be played again…….that they weren’t winners, that they weren’t champions and potentially they wouldn’t be happily trotting off to the presentation for a day out celebrating with their mates, despite having been invited you betcha it did!!!!

I wonder at this point what your decision would have been do I put my players through that, do I tell them that they have to do it all over again because someone is not telling the truth, what does that tell them?

 

 

Do I tell them that honesty, truthfulness & sportsmanship are not part of the game, because if it had been then this wouldn’t be happening and they would be winners, they would be champions for the first time, they would be getting promoted and more importantly they would be getting a day out with their mates that they rightfully deserved, but that doesn’t matter as someone has decided that actually they aren’t any of these things any more.

 

OR

 

Do I consider their well being, self esteem and confidence, even before stepping onto the pitch, being damaged, never mind after the match which they potentially could have lost, imagine how they would feel, they’d lost before they even kicked a ball……… Because of someone deciding to be economical with the truth I had to make the biggest decision of the season and ironically the whole season was riding on it but so was the image that I could see of my players faces when I said that they will always be champions, they are the rightful champions and we will celebrate!!!!!

 

They have the moral high ground no matter what! I had to decide if I wanted to see that image or an image of players that I have been with since they were 7 years old, downcast, confidence in shreds, questioning was it worth being honest, was it worth showing true sportsmanship & congratulating the opposition on a great game, was it worth showing respect to the decision made by the officials to go ahead with the game & give it their all, is it worth doing what’s right…..I wonder what you would have done? It was decided we wouldn’t put the boys through that, we would put their welfare first, we would celebrate like they were champions regardless.

 

Needless to say we are no longer champions, the opposition are as the league saw fit to award them the points. Strange that…….we play a game and win but lose the points, they don’t play a game and get awarded the points………….I’ll leave that one with you……. I hope they enjoy their day out but wonder what those parents that take them will be thinking when they walk on the stage, pick up their trophy and celebrate like they are champions….I use the work ‘like’ because that is what it will be, they aren’t champions, you know that, they know that, we know that.

 

A victory based on lies is no victory at all…enjoy your moment, I am enjoying telling my players they are true champions in every sense of the word……….. Oh yes, and the league, no apology for letting these boys down, no apology for taking something away from them, no apology for their actions, in fact………the funny part is, after all that we received a reminder asking us to let them know how many tickets we needed for the presentation which we wouldn’t be going to as we had now finished fourth, no trophy, no promotion, no apology……..disgraceful is an understatement. Win at all costs or put your players first………… I will leave it there for you to decide what you would have done.