The score is not the score

[Gob]

A junior football league has stopped publishing the results of its matches in case the scores embarrass the young players.



Telford Junior League – made up of 20 divisions ranging from under-10s to under-16s – now records all games as either 1-0 wins or 1-1 draws.

Bosses at the league have defended the decision to withhold the number of goals scored which they claim will spare the youngsters the humiliation of losing badly.

But campaigners and parents say the policy teaches children that competition is a bad thing and risks creating a generation of bad losers.

Unrepentant league bosses have defended the policy, saying it is in line with Football Association guidelines, which the FA disputes.

The FA says it has no rules relating to results above the age of eight.

And the league, which was founded in 1984 and has more than 2,000 players from clubs in Telford, north Shropshire and Bridgnorth, will also stop recording results for under-11 teams altogether from next season.

One parent, who did not want to be named, said: ‘This is because they don’t want kids embarrassed if their team has lost heavily.

‘If that’s the case what’s the point of having a league table up on the website at all?’

Another parent, who also did not want to be named for fear of turning officials against his son’s team, said: ‘I think it’s crazy - kids need to learn about winning and losing from an early age. They aren’t recognising the boys’ achievements.

‘They might not want to embarrass the losing team but if one of the lads scores six or seven goals and that isn’t recorded what kind of message does that send to them?

‘The lads might as well not turn up.’

Assistant secretary Stephen Groome said the league had introduced the results policy on its official website this year.
He said: ‘Shropshire FA have said it is a guideline and we chose to go with it. If someone else wins, the children do not need to be embarrassed.

‘There are mixed feelings about it and it’s up to each league. From next season under-11s won’t even have their results recorded.’

He said goal difference did not play a part in determining final league positions and teams finishing on equal points would share their position.

‘Sometimes there is a 16-1 or 16-0 goal difference but it’s not a determining factor in junior football because the league will be shared,’ he added.

Stephen Clarke, manager of the under-11s Wrekin Panthers team, backed the move.

He said: ‘The children’s welfare is paramount. The winners have three points on the website if they win and the children who lose 20-0 would feel very disheartened if it was on the website.

‘They might think of not playing. I think it’s a very good idea.’

But Mr Clarke added there must come a point when players had to accept defeat.

He said: ‘I think probably by the age of 15 then they have an understanding that life is a bit of a competition and we are competing with other people.’

Dame Kelly Holmes, the double Olympic champion, has spoken out in the past about the decline of competitive sports for children.

She said it risked spawning a generation of bad losers and blamed a culture of political correctness for making ‘competitiveness’ a dirty word.

A spokesman for the FA commented: 'There’s an FA rule that prohibits the publishing of results and league tables across all media for U7 and U8 age-groups where the focus of the game is about learning to play without the pressure of full-time scores.

'For older age groups, there are no rules or FA guidelines which indicate that the final score should be changed.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1aQC7cm9H

Barmy!

[The Hen]

Being able to lose, with dignity, in public is a skill that needs to be developed in a child, not caked in so much fairy floss it makes your teeth fall out.

If they never experience the full crushing anxiety of a sports loss during adolescence, how will they ever determine that they never want to feel so low again?

[BoSoxGal]

[dgs49]

When the score is not the score (Western Pennsylvania):

In indoor soccer, when the score got beyond 6-0, the scoreboard would not add more points to the winning team. The official result would be 6-0, regardless.

In Football and basketball, when one team is running up the score, the clock does not stop for minor disruptions in play, thus shortening the game. It is traditional, but not mandatory for the coach of the leading team to "pull the starters," that is, to allow substitutes to play, once the outcome of the game is no longer in doubt.

In baseball, they have the "ten run rule." Once a team is 10 runs (or more) ahead at the end of any inning, the game is deemed over.

A lopsided score can be embarrassing, but so can making a bad mistake in life. Does anybody think that if the score is artificially reported as 1-0, the losers in a "blowout" won't realize that they got (figuratively) killed?

[Gob]

Ah, some sense!

A Shropshire junior football league has been told it must publish scores correctly instead of changing them to avoid embarrassing players.

Telford Junior League said regardless of the actual scores, it would list games as 1-0, 0-1 or 0-0.

But the Shropshire Football Association's Rules Revision committee said the listings were "unacceptable".

A spokesman for the Shropshire FA said scores must be given correctly online and to the media.

He said: "Match scores must be correctly recorded.

"All results except for non-competitive age groups may be reported via the FA website and various other media outlets."

Keith Davies, from the league, said previously they were following FA guidelines that would protect the welfare of players.

But the Shropshire FA said clubs should have been consulted and that the full results should be reported.

Mr Davies had said the league was testing the approach and that it always planned to consult participating clubs in future months.

He added that there were other options available to the league, such as reporting games as simply wins, draws or losses.

Some clubs have chosen to publish the full results on their own websites.

Telford Junior League represents 200 teams, with almost 3,000 players in categories ranging from under-nines to under-16s.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sh ... e-15453162

[Sean]

Shame, I was interested in seeing what would happen if two or more teams were level on points at the end of the season when goal difference comes into play...