Leading 5-0 with two minutes to go in our first game when disaster strikes. We concede a goal. As you’d expect, I go berserk on the sideline. Terrible defending. Poor goalkeeping. All round bad effort. Before I finish jumping up and down while loudly berating my players, I shout “corner flag”. They know what to do next. From the kick-off, they take the ball into the corner and run down the clock. No point risking another blemish on the scoreline.
Then the most amazing thing happens. The parents of the opposing team start booing. Just shows how little they know about the sport. At the end, while I’m busy reading the riot act to my guys for letting in a goal, one of the fathers from the other side comes up to me.
“That was way too cynical," he says. "You guys were leading by four goals with two minutes to go!”
“And?” I ask, wondering where he’s going with all this.
“That was like something professionals do. They are only nine and ten year old kids!” he replies.
They are only nine and ten year old kids! Fantastic. Make a mental note to get team t-shirts made up with that slogan on the front. The parents will love that.
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