Nothing is gained by hurting players

The Editor,

Re: "Teams suspended after field brawl," the Now, April 20.

There is no excuse for violent behaviour on the soccer field or in any other field. Soccer is a gentleman's sport and boys should be gentlemen.

All the young people play soccer to compete fairly and the competition should be unhindered. It should be played by the rules and attention paid to see to it the sport has control, discipline and minimal contact.

This isn't football, where tackling is involved.

This time it was the goalie and a player attacked but last year my son also was tripped and kicked in the head, putting him out of the game play. All the aggressor got was facing a penalty shot but my son had a headache for a month.

They were lucky my son wasn't killed on the field with such foolery. To this day I see the kick and believe it was calculated.

The two boys laughed about it. It was funny for them to have hurt a boy. I saw it as just plain cold cruelty. What kind of men are these boys going to be?

As far as I was concerned they should have lost the game right then and there for what they did. But the ref let the game go on.

This is not the way. These are just kids and these are just games. These sports have to teach discipline and control. If they don't, then we are not teaching our kids what they need to be taught in spite of the great opportunity to do so.

When I was growing up, I took karate. My teacher made it so difficult for us. He made us go through abuse just so the bad eggs with bad tempers would leave. He said karate, like any other sport, requires discipline and control. He told us we were never to use what we learned unless there was no other way out of a very bad situation. We always had to look for a reason not to use violence to solve our problems.

He taught us well. His teaching made me a more tolerant person in the face of adversity. It never hurt me to walk away.

Words never hurt me. Other people's anger never hurt me. So I was never angry myself.

In B.C., we have a lot of road rage and just plain rage in people. Every time I see an incident I think, they could have used a teacher like mine when they were growing up.

In soccer as in other sports, kids need to be taught discipline and control. Nothing is gained by purposely hurting another player. There is enough room for mistakes to happen at the speed they are going.

V. Baronian
North Delta

posted on 04/25/2005