This is somewhat unrelated. But I was involved in a soccer incident, on the field.
I signed up to play 12 and under soccer as a 13 year old, not really knowing that I was an illegal player, and remember thinking to myself I couldn't possibly qualify for this team when I signed the paper, but the coaches said it was ok. So I played. It turned out that our team actually had several players who were 13. All very good. And all who went on to play Varsity soccer. At any rate, only about half our team was actually twelve and under.
So at end season we are like 16-0. Tournament time comes.
We show up the field to the play the second place team. And they refuse to take the field. It turns out their coaches are challenging our ages. They want to win by forfeit. The players on the other team defy their coach and take the field, cause they came to play, and they want to play, and they want to beat us on the field, and so we take the field, but the other coach refuses to let his team play and the referees refuse to set the game in motion either. Its get ugly between coaches and refs, and fans. Lots of heated arguments. The players just want to play. So the other team stands on the field with us like idiots while all this is going on. Deciding to change the course of events, we get a soccer ball and start playing with the other team. That goes well for all of 30 seconds. The refs and coaches break it up.
Eventually the field gets cleared of all players because it is impossible to play when a ref is taking the ball. Whatever. We walk off.
The Ref calls out the next set of teams to play. Saying our team is illegal and that we forfeit.
Some little kids take the field to play their game.
Now, I don't know how what happened next happened, but it did. But both teams from our forfeited game decide to stop all soccer play if we couldn't play our match. If we couldn't play nobody else could. It was like group think at its worst. Before you know it both teams had stripped the nets from the soccer field, and all hell broke loose. The fans, the older kids, the younger kids, the coaches, and pretty much the whole soccer league was on the field and it was like a living nightmare. Think Detroit vs. Indiana. Someone called the police, and their cars hit the dust covered parking raising up a thick cloud and sirens blazing. Some people were arrested, and some kids ran like hell. It was kinda dramatic. Like something from a movie. Strangely, I was able to just walk away and get a ride home with a parent.
And that was that. But it made for some wonderful memories all though highschool.
Anyway, there you go. I' not even sure how I feel about it. I know I was an illegal player, but it didn't feel like it, even to this day it doesn't feel like it, cause everybody was just having a good time until the incident broke out.
My other on the court incident occured in basketball: The basketball game I was in was getting really physical. People were practically being throw in and out of the lane. It was a big time rivalry and things were getting out of control. Anyway, I'm sitting on the bench, talking to my teammate about who we would try to take out from the other team if a brawl broke on the basketball court. We were half serious and half joking. Now let me get to the point of it, we were so engrossed in out plotting that when we turned around to look at the court the benches had cleared. Not because the players had gotten into it, but because our coach and other coach were now wrestling on the floor. Funniest thing ever. Both benches had cleared except for me and my teammate, who were still sitting there in complete amazement at what was happening. Everything subsided eventually and the game went on after a few players and coaches were ejected.
Ok, I have one more on court incident that I remember: A player from the other basketball team spit on the referee. Well, you can imagine that one thing led to the other. Anyway, the final result was that our team was awarded 23 technical Free Throws and game ended. I never saw anything quite like that before, but good times.
Anyway, that was for my enjoyment and trip down memory lane. Back to fairweather fans.
