Canadian Youth Soccer League Enforces Rather Severe Mercy Rule

There are a lot of well-intentioned but woolly-headed rules instituted in youth sports leagues that mean to ensure that everyone feels all nice and fuzzy about themselves and their decision to indulge in a lark of tepid competition. But one such ordinance imposed by the Gloucester Dragons Recreational Soccer League of Ottawa takes the “hooray for everyone who participated” sentiment to a new extreme. Under league rules, any team that finishes a game more than five goals ahead of their opponent is instead declared the loser.↵↵⇥The league recommends teams use strategies such as: playing shorthanded, kicking with a weaker foot (left foot as opposed to right, right foot as opposed to left, depending on which foot is more dominant for a specific player) or insert players at positions they don’t have experience at if they’re in danger of losing ... due to winning by too many goals.↵↵↵Obviously, the league wants to maintain close games where every player feels the field of competition is level and they can be in it until the very end. Of course, that isn’t how life or most competitive athletics really works. And it’s one thing to use the kid gloves on kids, but this league includes players from the ages of five to 18, far beyond when they should have accepted that sometimes one team is simply vastly superior to its adversary. A severe loss can be a teachable moment. Why, that under-20 German youth team must have learned something by getting ↵shellacked by the national squad last week.↵

↵↵Now, most likely there is a provision in the rule book that stops you from scoring on your own team to prevent one side from own-goaling themselves to victory, but I think one doughty coach should nevertheless give it a shot. If anything, it’ll turn that protective but poorly reasoned rule on its ear. Failing that, it will at the very least teach the kids a valuable lesson in exploiting loopholes, which is far more important than showing mercy to a downed foe.↵

↵