Here’s a newsflash for you. Soccer is a rough sport.
[Wow, I guess I'll take "Captain Obvious" for $400, Alex.]
Yes, yes, I know. This is no cosmic revelation even to the most clueless sports anti-fan. But while bruises and scrapes are commonplace badges of honor after a tough game, and the occasional sprain is iced down and wrapped with an Ace Bandage of pride, there are limits to what is considered acceptable risk. I will even stipulate that an occasional busted ankle or torn ACL when the heat of battle creates collisions is not out of the realm of reason. But the boundary to that realm comes in the form of intent.
If two players go up for a header, collide, and hit the pitch hard, it may take them a minute to remember who they are, what team they play for, what day it is, and possibly what sport they were playing in the first place. As this information filters back into their scrambled brains, they sit up, reach over, and help each other off the ground. It’s the way it works. But when a goalie dives for the ball on the ground, and an opponent comes in with a slide tackle, cleats up, to the goalie’s midsection? That, my friends, is malice. (It’s also supposed to be an automatic red card, according to the NCYSA, but that isn’t the point.)
Last night’s Varsity game was one in which the other team came in with a raging case of malice. They weren’t there for finesse, or for love of the game, for teamwork, or for fun. They were there to dominate by force. Their passing game was pretty good; they had speed and decent footwork. Their defense was a little sloppy here and there, but they were fast enough to get back. However, they also received, if memory serves, 8 yellow cards. Now, to be fair, I do not have the official stats count, so I may be off by one or two. But at least two of those yellows are supposed to be automatic reds. One was a slide tackle in the back, cleats up, and one was train-wrecking the goalie when he was down. (Yes, I have photos of both fouls.) They also threw an elbow into the face of our team captain, nearly breaking his nose, but doing enough tissue damage that the doctor has benched him for the entire week. Their coach encouraged the behavior at every turn; the rest of the team not only crowed when one of our players went down, but then hotly protested every whistle the ref did decide to blow.
What got me the most, though, was the parents. We’ve all known rabid coaches who watched the Sensei in Karate Kid with glazed eyes of adoration one too many times. And we’ve all known teenagers so pumped full of hormones, energy, and anger that their bullying behavior in the hallways at school flows easily out onto the sports fields as well. But I simply have to ask the question to these parents: Are you proud of your child right now? Are you bragging to your friends about how many yellow cards your player has this season, or how many injuries have been caused by your child’s elbow, cleats, or fists? Do you rest easy, knowing that instead of learning the delicate footwork, or sensing your opponent’s next move before it’s made, instead of studying the plays and the geometric intricacies of patterns set up by the coach, your son or daughter tripped, elbowed, cleated, or pulled (by the jersey) his or her way to victory?
The Ambassador played hard, he played physical, and he played to protect his goalie. But he has been raised to understand that no matter what, at the end of the day, he is to respect the game. He will tuck in his jersey properly, he will address the ref as “sir” or “ma’am” no matter how much of a tool the person is, and he will be a gentleman on the pitch. He has been raised to know that in a normal game, if he cannot win the game on his efforts (combined with the efforts of his mates, of course!), then he (/they) didn’t deserve the win. His team lost last night, 6-2, but that was no normal game. Not by a long shot. But if my son had come onto that pitch and acted the way the Northern Guilford Nighthawks had acted, I would’ve held no pride for his team, and certainly not for him. Instead of the elated cheers after a win, I would’ve worn a badge of shame as a parent.
For me, I am proud of every player on the Eastern Alamance Eagles team, and their coaches as well. They got frustrated last night, and yes, they shoved back, talked some trash, and their tempers occasionally hindered their usual fluid and skillful maneuvers. But at no point did they cross the line into “thugs” out there, and at the end of the day, no matter what the score, they showed themselves to be men.
Well done, Eagles.
