My daughter’s fourth grade teacher was fond of saying, “Fair is where you buy a pie and sell a pig.” It’s a tough lesson, but perhaps necessary. In life, it takes just a few carefree years to be quashed by the giant hand of unfairness. No where is partiality more prevalent than in youth sports. My daughter goes to a private school, which means our opponents are also typically private schools, and in the south, private schools usually have the word “Christian” at the end of it.
So far, I have yet to attend a youth sporting event against a “Christian” school where parents from the school actually acted Christian. Now, I have to admit that I hold these Christian schools up to a Biblical standard, and I’m always disappointed. Christians are supposed to be an example of Jesus’ teachings. Once a soccer match or basketball game starts, they forget the most important cornerstones of the Christian Church – loving they neighbor, turning the other cheek, bearing false witness and a few more commandments.
It’s not that these “Christians” intend on breaking any of the commandments, but it seems that their need to judge takes over. The sideline sparring of the spectators with the referees was in full force during our girls’ soccer tournament this wekk, from both sides. My husband (who is a former referee) noted a handball on a player of our opponent. A voice (not God’s) called out, “You can see that from here?” and she began to cackle. “I can’t believe that you could see that from here. That’s very funny, that you think you can see it from here.”
Her constant badgering required a response. “Yea, I can see that from here,” replied my husband. The “Christian” woman apparently wanted the last word and each time my husband responded, she rebuked him. Her own husband was standing on the sidelines and looked up at her, “Do you need me to take care of this,” he said (because he was apparently looking for some sort of Christian altercation. Is that in the new or the old testament?) She smugly smiled and he continued to be “Christian”-like. “Let me know if you need me to take care of it,” he whispered.
“She started it!” (this is me.) “What?” she replied. “I just thought it was funny.”
I quickly realized the woman with the quilted jacket was mimicked by her “Christian” friends. What I found incredible is that once we began to spar back, the “Christians” ability to hold themselves up as god-like – “Why are you getting upset…” was quite impressive.
That experience was bad, but what happened on the field at the end of the game showed me and my beautiful daughter that “Christianity” when worn as a badge, rarely lives up to the promise. As we entered PKs, our final kicker ran than slowed. The pressure was on. She kicked the ball and it soared into the goal. We won! The whole negative experience disappeared and we were so excited for our girls! But…that wasn’t the end. “Christian” parents on the sidelines were emphatic – the goal was no good. The call from the arena of parents went from a growl to a wave of anger spewed at our final kicker. [REMINDER: The school’s name includes “Christian”]. The referee called it back and, referring to Rule 14, she claimed our kicker hesitated and the kick would have to be retaken:
14.03 I heard that kickers are not allowed to stop their run once they have started forward, and that even hesitations may cause a successful penalty to be called back. Is that true?
Law 14 does not address this question directly. It does stipulate, however, that if the penalty taker infringes the LOTG before the ball is in play, the penalty must be retaken if the ball enters the goal. This might occur in the case you describe if the referee thought the penalty taker’s hesitation was a deliberate attempt to put the keeper off-balance before taking the kick; this could be called unsporting behaviour, in which case the player concerned would also be cautioned (shown the yellow card).
As our kicker was about to rekick, the “Christian” soccer coach can screaming to the referee, insisting the call was wrong [and when I say “insisting” I mean spitting fire and hollering while shaking her entire body]. The ref reversed the call. We went to sudden death and lost in the next kick.
Did winning the game make them better Christians? We must be reading different Bibles.