A Damn Good Thrashing

‘IT is not just the Government that abides by the wisdom of shooting the messenger.

‘We’re shit and we know we are!’

The Sheffield And District Football League operate a similar policy – and are insisting on protecting the feelings of their players after an Under-9 team was trounced 29-0 recently.

The league has decided that the best way to do this is to forbid clubs communicating with the local paper until it agrees not to publish any results in which the score exceeds 14 goals.

Naturally, the Derbyshire Times editor Mike Wilson will not agree – and so the league has threatened disciplinary action on any club asking the paper to publish its score.

The paper was told that words such as ‘trouncing’ were liable to humiliate children on the wrong end of a, er, trouncing.

‘If the teams lose 29-0 and the league doesn’t want it reporting,’ Mr Wilson tells the Times, ‘then perhaps they should be looking at whether they are guilty of mismatching, which could put youngsters off the game, rather than our reports.’

One parent (presumably of a member of the side that won 29-0) said children were ‘gutted’ by the ruling.

‘Life’s not all about winning and our kids have got to learn to take the good with the bad,’ says Wendy McMahon, who is organising a petition demanding an end to the ban.

‘If they lose, they need to know it’s nothing to be ashamed of, as long as they tried their best.’

Fair enough, we suppose, if you lose 2-1 or even 3-1, but not if you’re trounced 29-0! Hang your heads in shame, you losers.’

Posted: 30th, March 2004 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink