About the lack of sportsmanship in children’s tournaments in Spain

Today I read an article in Spanish media about the result of a teenage football match between a boys’ team and a girls’ team, and the controversy that happened after that. The match was won easily by the boys’ team, the result was like 0-8, so there was no doubt that the boys’ team was the winner. Until this moment, everything looked normal, but the problem is what happened next.

An offensive comment published in SNS spark the anger

After the match, the boys’ team posted a photo of the result on their SNS, along with the comment “a fregar”, which can be translated into English as “respawn in the kitchen”. They sent the girls to wash the dishes. For me, this is not acceptable, and they should kick them out of the competition. But the problem is that this kind of behaviour is quite common in Spain; however, this is probably not a Spanish problem only, but it could happen in other countries. I will talk about Spain, as this is the country that I know more.

Which is the problem here?

In my opinion, I am curious to know who is managing the Instagram account where the message was posted. The article says that they were 12 years old, so they are under the minimum age for using Instagram. Therefore, there are 2 options, they are not following the terms of Instagram and their account should be removed, or the account was managed by an adult, which is even worse.
In this second scenario, who approved this post? What will be the consequence of this? This is a problem of values, and this is not the idea of making children and teenagers practice sports. This is a healthy activity and could be very positive for them, but this is not the way. The first thing that they should learn is to respect the rival and know how to win and how to lose. And these values should be taught at home, not only in school.

This is not the first case of unsportsmanship

If you take a look at recent news about teenage and children’s soccer leagues, it is easy to find cases like this and even fights. Parents insulting the referee and other players are too common, and normally nothing serious happens. But some parents behave like hooligans, and think that their child is going to be the new Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi, and if they don’t achieve that, it will be a failure, and it will be because of an external factor (could be anything, the coach, the referee, the field, whatever). Aside from the talent of the child, this attitude cannot be accepted. If they go to practice sports, it should be for fun, for health and also for learning values. For me, this is the problem; this cannot be accepted.

What could be the solution for this situation?

It is needed to punish this behaviour. I read in the article noted below that the boys will have to attend a gender equality speech. This is not a solution or a punishment for anything. For me, the offender should be kicked out of the competition, and the match must be rescheduled by the girls’ teams. This is not a top-level competition; this is an amateur league that should be played for fun and for learning. If a player has talent and succeeds as a football player, it’s a matter of time. Obviously, being competitive and trying to improve is part of the sport, but insulting the rival is not and shouldn’t be part of it.

Source and more info. Eurosport.es