Even If You Win, You Lose (Silly Sport Rule in Canada)

[aduidarnenye]

Here is possibly the stupidest sporting rule I've ever seen:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/06...a-league-says/

Win a soccer game by more than five points and you lose, Ottawa league says

http://nationalpostnews.files.wordpr...al-1.jpg?w=620


In yet another nod to the protection of fledgling self-esteem, an Ottawa children’s soccer league has introduced a rule that says any team that wins a game by more than five points will lose by default.

The Gloucester Dragons Recreational Soccer league’s newly implemented edict is intended to dissuade a runaway game in favour of sportsmanship. The rule replaces its five-point mercy regulation, whereby any points scored beyond a five-point differential would not be registered.

Kevin Cappon said he first heard about the rule on May 20 — right after he had scored his team’s last allowable goal. His team then tossed the ball around for fear of losing the game.

He said if anything, the league’s new rule will coddle sore losers.

“They should be saying anything is possible. If we can get five goals really fast, well, so can the other team,” said Kevin, 17, who has played in the league for five years. “People grow in adversity, they don’t really get worse…. I think you’ll see more leadership skills being used if a losing team tries to recuperate than if they never got into that situation at all.”

Kevin’s father, Bruce Cappon, called the rule ludicrous.

“I couldn’t find anywhere in the world, even in a communist country, where that rule is enforced,” he said.

Mr. Cappon said the organization is trying to “reinvent the wheel” by fostering a non-competitive environment. The league has 3,000 children enrolled ranging in age from four to 18 years old.

“Everybody wants a close game, nobody wants blowouts, but we don’t want to go by those farcical rules that they come up with,” he said. “Heaven forbid when these kids get into the real world. They won’t be prepared to deal with the competition out there.”

Paul Cholmsky, whose four- and six-year-old boys play in the league, said the intended goal of a default-lose rule might backfire in teaching life skills.

“If there’s one team that’s consistenly dominant and one team that’s not, well, that’s life,” he said.

Mr. Cholmsky said he would be in favour of temporarily handicapping a team, for example reducing the number of players on the field, over ensuring a team loss for a high score differential.

According to the league’s new rules, coaches of stronger teams are encouraged to deter runaway games by rotating players out of their usual positions, ensuring players pass the ball around, asking players to kick with the weaker foot, taking players off the field and encouraging players to score from farther away.

Club director Sean Cale said he is disappointed a few parents are making the new soccer rule overshadow the community involvement and organizing the Gloucester club does.

“The registration fee, rergardless of the sport, does not give a parent the right to insult or belittle the organization,” he said. “It gives you a uniform, it gives you a team.”

Mr. Cale said the league’s 12-person board of directors is not trying to take the fun out of the game, they are simply trying to make it fair. The new rule, suggested by “involved parents,” is a temporary measure that will be replaced by a pre-season skill assessment to make fair teams.

“The board is completely volunteer-run and we do the best that we can to provide a good, clean, fun soccer experience for everyone,” he said.

Although parents are fuming, he said the commotion is coming from “about 1% of the parents.”

[Correction]

[sruon]

That is...dumb?

I fail to see what it accomplishes.

[Jotaru]

I thought this would be a thread about marriage ('-';

Pretty stupid. I'm all for the handicap of the winning team (only given the circumstances...) Personally I think the game should be played out, or use a faster or running clock when a team is up by however many points. If that's not sufficient, start reducing players on the field or something. Idk.

[Tekki]

oh those silly canadians and their flappy heads

[Wintermute]

Sweet merciful science this is fucking stupid.

I like this part:

According to the league’s new rules, coaches of stronger teams are encouraged to deter runaway games by rotating players out of their usual positions, ensuring players pass the ball around, asking players to kick with the weaker foot, taking players off the field and encouraging players to score from farther away.

So if a team is doing well they're encouraged to work on passing and use their weaker foot, which in turn will make them better players more likely to outplay the opposition later on?
Same with encouraging them to shoot from further out. How do you coddle bad teams when they're letting in goals from miles away? Forbid the opposition from taking shots on goal?


The league should encourage coaches of weaker teams to sort their shit out so their defense isn't full of holes.

Getting beasted is part of playing Football.

[SephYuyX]

This is new? Pretty sure rules like this have always been around, they had a similiar one to this in the area I lived in when I was young.

[vagus]

This is why Canada has had no team at the World Cup since 1986. Lol.

[Seanr]

this is fuckin ghey, kids nowadays are gonna grow up to be pussies

[Jefe]

What if they score own goals? Do they still win after the 5th?

The slaughter rule is lame. Imagine your coach telling you,

Coach: All right everybody, get in the van, NOW!
Kid (horrible defender): But why Mister Pedro Mehar? We still have about 2 hours left of playtime.
Coach: Why? Because that was a massacre - a goddamn bloodletting - kid. The rules protect punk ass kids like you; if we are getting pwn'd we auto win or stop the game.
Kid (horrible defender): Oh..., okay!
Coach: Now, who wants some pizza?
Team: YAY!!!!

[Rhyis.]

If I was coaching those kids anytime my team hit 4 more goals then the other team, I'd just get one of my kids to score on our own net then go back to business as usual.

[FNH]

Pussyfied world.

[AidenCarby]

They'll never hear those character building words "you're a loser Bobby". :/

[dudeguy]

Why not just a 5 goal mercy rule?

If I was coaching those kids anytime my team hit 4 more goals then the other team, I'd just get one of my kids to score on our own net then go back to business as usual.

I really hope this will happen, was what I was thinking when I read the rule. It would make the team look like even bigger losers and ruin their fragile self-esteem even more.

[Acturus]

God, growing up, little league baseball, if one team got a 10 run advantage, the game was called after that inning.

This is just silly.

[Loire]

Jesus christ i live there an played in that league when i was younger, they were half retarded then and looks like they've gone full retarded now. Realizing this is a rec league still isn't enough to warrant this kind of ruling

quick edit: Should just simply vote with your money, recreational soccer league fees aren't free. If this drops their turnout next year I would not be surprised.

[Gadritan]

If I was coaching those kids anytime my team hit 4 more goals then the other team, I'd just get one of my kids to score on our own net then go back to business as usual.

Thisx1,000. We used to let teams score a few on us when we were dogging them when I was in middle school (only 1 team in our district ever gave us competition, everyone else lost to both of us usually by 5+ goals) . While it was intended to show sportsmanship, more often than not it was just a slap in the face because it was so obvious.

[Siniroth]

If I was coaching those kids anytime my team hit 4 more goals then the other team, I'd just get one of my kids to score on our own net then go back to business as usual.

I really hope this will happen, was what I was thinking when I read the rule. It would make the team look like even bigger losers and ruin their fragile self-esteem even more.

That's what's going to happen, if children in my city represent the norm, they'll either learn to change the rules back to 5-goal mercy or kids are going to be more depressed that their only points are scored by the other team deliberately

[Ryany]

It seems to me like a good compromise might be for the leading team to lose one player off the field for every goal they go past the limit. (or let the losing team put an extra player on the field for every goal past the limit)

[Khajit]

That makes it worse ryany. When getting curbstomped the last thing you want is to get curbstomped by the handicapped.