On the field next to where we are practicing tonight, the girls U-11 team are playing a make-up league game. As I watch my boys run their mandatory 25 warm-up laps (they will be the fittest 10 year olds in this competition), I see the most disturbing thing happening on the other pitch. After making a save at the expense of a corner, the goalkeeper from our club walks behind to gather the ball. Of course, to me, this is a big no-no. Why is she not hollering at her own players to get back instead of fetching the ball?
It gets worse. After picking up the ball, she then runs out to the corner flag and, with the same care as a mother taking a cake out of the oven and placing it on the window sill, she puts the ball down for her opponent to take the kick. She then skips merrily back towards the goal. I’m flabbergasted, mostly because her coach says and does nothing about this embarrassment. If that’s not a benchable offence, what is? I tell my boys to keep running and go to see the girl’s coach.
‘What was that about?’ I ask him.
‘Girls will be girls,’ he says with a big, gormless grin on his face. 'It's not like they scored from the corner.'
‘Are you not going to punish her for that by taking her off?’ I continue.
‘No, not at all, I thought it was charming.’ More stupid grinning on his behalf.
‘Charming?’ I roar into his face. ‘Charming? Charming is a brand of toilet paper and that kind of behavior is exactly why your team is in the toilet! You are a disgrace to the club, tolerating crap like that.’
He walks away from me without responding, hopefully seeing the error of his ways.
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