Tuesday, July 28, 2009
men behaving badly
It happened a few months ago at the annual Britannia Micro Soccer (now called 'Footie') Father's Day soccer tournament. An annual go-at-it for (supposedly) soccer dads, typically those with kids in Brit Micro Soccer, and other hangers on.
This was my fourth year, the second with FUFC.
Unfortunately some of the players didn't get the memo that you were supposed to be a soccer dad and the premise of the tournament is 'friendly'. That is, no refs, call your own fouls, so slide tackles; play like you have to work tomorrow.
So our first game was vs the Black team with some hotheads who were playing beyond the protocol. What I saw was DD from our team and a player from Black battling for a ball (fine), next thing I know the Black player is on the ground with his legs around DD's legs, squeezing them until DD falls. Well, DD was not happy, got up and kicked Black (probably shouldn't have done that, but understandable).
Next thing we know there's a brouhaha, with lots of pushing and shoving and hot words. DD does the right thing, red cards himself and walks off the field, not to play for the remainder of that game. Good. Unfortunately, the talented E also does not like the tone and goes home for the day. A great loss for our team and for him.
After agreeing to red card the Black player as well, play resumes and we lose after a rough game.
As it turns out, in the fourth game of the day, playing for 1st place, Big J's team has a similar brouhaha with the Black team and he cancels the game, giving the prize money to charity. There you go. Gives credence to oft-used description of Soccer/Footie/Football as a 'gentleman's game played by thugs'.
This was my fourth year, the second with FUFC.
Unfortunately some of the players didn't get the memo that you were supposed to be a soccer dad and the premise of the tournament is 'friendly'. That is, no refs, call your own fouls, so slide tackles; play like you have to work tomorrow.
So our first game was vs the Black team with some hotheads who were playing beyond the protocol. What I saw was DD from our team and a player from Black battling for a ball (fine), next thing I know the Black player is on the ground with his legs around DD's legs, squeezing them until DD falls. Well, DD was not happy, got up and kicked Black (probably shouldn't have done that, but understandable).
Next thing we know there's a brouhaha, with lots of pushing and shoving and hot words. DD does the right thing, red cards himself and walks off the field, not to play for the remainder of that game. Good. Unfortunately, the talented E also does not like the tone and goes home for the day. A great loss for our team and for him.
After agreeing to red card the Black player as well, play resumes and we lose after a rough game.
As it turns out, in the fourth game of the day, playing for 1st place, Big J's team has a similar brouhaha with the Black team and he cancels the game, giving the prize money to charity. There you go. Gives credence to oft-used description of Soccer/Footie/Football as a 'gentleman's game played by thugs'.
