spirit of game more important than letter of law?

[furriner]

Heard a truly uplifting story the other day:

apparently it was senior day for Hannan High on Saturday. they had arranged a "friendly" game against Ursuline. Now, I know both head coaches of these schools, and they are truly gentlemen.

Anyway, one senior Hannan lady has been injured all season. I am not completely up to speed on the full extent of her injury, but she cannot kick a ball without being in pain. So, after all the pregame introduction things, the coaches huddle up with the refs.

this young lady kicked off and was immediately subbed out of the game to applause. nice gesture. 2 minutes from end of the game Ursuline defender deliberately handles the ball so that Hannan are awarded a penalty.

Hannan subs in the injured player who takes kick and scores, before basically falling over in agony. Now, all involved knew that in HS, one cannot sub in a player just to take a penalty kick. Surely, if ever there was an example of the spirit of the game being more important than the letter of the Law this is it.

well done, and thank you to both coaches, and the ref for allowing the tweaking of the rules.

[dulac]

Kudos to the crew and hoping the lady gets better soon.

[coachray40]

YES!! YES yes yes yes yes!

I'm jacked up from reading this thread--excellent excellent stuff!

[laffysoccermom]

Doing the right thing is always more important than the rules. People are more important than the rules. Loved reading this story...

Hope this young lady has a full recovery. Sounds like she has a lot of support.