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First Posted: 6/6/2013
Actions of coach, parents disqualify soccer team
The Wilkes-Barre Cosmos Youth Soccer organization should be embarassed by the actions of its Under 8 year old team coach and some parents.
The Hanover Area Youth Soccer U8 team was leading the Cosmos team 5-2 midway through the 4th period when the offical had to stop the game and disqualify the Cosmos team due to the conduct of the coach.
The game started off innocently enough and the children on both teams were playing well and seemed to be enjoying themselves. The score at half time had Hanover leading 3-2. As the third quarter progressed, Hanover increased the lead to 5-2 and that’s when things turned ugly. Some parents became more and more vocal.
I say some parents because it was obvious some of the Cosmos parents were as sickened and appalled by the conduct those parents displayed in front of the children as we were. At first, they started complaining that the Hanover children were clearly older than their children. While a couple of the Hanover kids are bigger than others, all of them had presented their birth certificates at registration and met the age requirements for spring soccer. This was the second time these 2 teams played so if the Cosmos had an issue with the ages, the proper way to handle it would have been to lodge a complaint with the league, after the first game, not rant and rave on the sidelines in front of the children during the second game.
As Hanover started to increase its lead, the parents and coaches turned their attention to the official. One such incident was when the official called for a Hanover “throw in”. The coach charged the field demanding to know why. The official explained that the Cosmos kicked the ball out of bounds and that a Cosmo parent, standing on the sideline, kicked the ball back into play. A couple of the other parents then got up and stood right on the out of bounds line. I don’t know what possible reason that would be for except to try to intimidate the Hanover players (6-, 7- and 8-year-olds).
The situation deterioriated when the Cosmo coach believed the official should have called an off-side penalty against Hanover. That is when the coach’s conduct was so bad that he was ejected from the game, refused to leave the field and left the official no other choice but to end the game.
There is a correct way to handle disagreements. Ranting and raving in front of the kids to the point where they get disqualified and the kids lose the opportunity to compete is clearly the wrong way.
I am proud of the Hanover Area Youth Soccer organization, coaches, parents and especially the kids. They perform their best and play with a high level sportsmanship. I feel sorry for the kids on the Cosmos team. They seemed to be enjoying the game and playing their best. There always seems to be a small minority of parents who have to act in such a way to ruin the experience for everyone.
The Wilkes-Barre Cosmos Organization should be embarrassed by this incident and should re-educate everyone of the rules of conduct as published by the Wyoming Valley Youth Soccer Association.
William and Christine May
Hanover Township