Two weeks ago, the House Soccer tournament kicked off. The controversial decisions made by league officials is a hot topic surrounding the tournament.
The first week of House Soccer saw incredible action with Houssain defeating Geer 3-0. Byrd picked up a historic first ever win in House Soccer history with a 4-1 triumph over Senft. Defending champions Groos showed they weren’t going to surrender their title with a 7-3 win over Mackenzie.
In the second week, however, Byrd seemed confused in a match against Geer. Before the match started, Geer were automatically awarded a 3 goal lead for having more girls on their team. Byrd players were surprised, and Geer went on to score 2 goals to win the game. After the game, several players from different houses protested the rule as their games were also affected.
On January 31st 2017, Byrd was involved in another incident surrounding the regulations regarding girls. Prior to kickoff in a match against Houssain, several Houssain players demanded that Byrd automatically forfeit the game due to Byrd having a lack of girls. Michael Payne then proceeded to clarify the regulations surrounding the girls. He stated that due to the fact that Byrd only had one female player to Hussain’s four, the game would now be co-ed.
Seconds before the game began, Byrd House Captain Hannah Palacios stormed off in a rage at the events. “There needs to be broader communication of rules,” she exclaimed later in an interview. “They need to be set and they can’t keep changing.”
The game was tense, with Houssain dominating the possession and Byrd generating attacks from their limited spells. The score was deadlocked at 0-0. Then with 3 seconds left, Edward Coleman sliced home the winning goal for Byrd in what was thought to be a hard fought victory; however, the score was declared a tie due to Byrd’s lack of girls.
According to the regulations, if both teams have an equal amount of girls, there would be a shift for both female teams to play out an entire quarter. Since Byrd didn’t have enough girls, Houssain was automatically awarded a point.
There are many flaws involving these regulations, as automatically awarding points for girls doesn’t reflect the actual ability of either team. Furthermore, giving one gender an advantage in a sports game over another gender, is a form of sexism. It does not appear as though this soccer tournament has an official document stating the rules or how the point system works. But once there is, it will prove useful in preventing further controversy.
By: Nikoli Osborn