We beat the other McGregor team 20-0 to move to 3-2 for our district games. It looks like we have a good shot at making the playoffs. The other McGregor team was ahead of us, but it turns out they were playing with a 14-year-old (this is a league for 10- to 12-year-olds) and had to forfeit their wins. He didn’t play today and we beat them soundly. From what I understand, the head coach was banned for the season as well.
This really upsets me off for two reasons:
1) Safety. It is always wrong to cheat, but to cheat like this in football is something else altogether. When you have a 14-year-old out there hitting 10-year-olds that is a safety issue.
2) Reputation. Certain towns always have a reputation for bending the rules. Back in my day it was always Marlin who was suspect. I do NOT want to see McGregor get this reputation. Once you get a reputation like that it is hard to shake. It sounds like McGregor Youth Football needs to be cleaned up. If certain individuals lack integrity, they have no business being involved with youth sports. I’m glad the people in charge took the right action, but next year they need to be more organized (like our youth baseball organization) and require birth certificates for everyone. They need to double-check these things so it doesn’t happen again.
Having said that, I’m glad to be associated with our team’s coaches. Props to Cedric McLeain and Mike Robinson. They are great with the kids, they are teaching them a lot, and they act honorably.