Soccer Stars and...racism is unfortunately still alive and well
Edward's 1st round of their Soccer tournament was this weekend. They had three games, 12:30 on Saturday and 8:00am and 2:00pm on Sunday. They won all three! 10-0, 6-1 and 4-1 if I remember correctly. The 1st two were great games. Unfortunately the last one left something to be desired. The team we played was VERY aggresive, there was a lot of shoving and tripping going on. But where things went really sour was when two players started shoving each other and would not stop until the ref red carded them. First you have to know..one of the best players on our team is middle eastern (specifically what ethnicity I am not sure, but it is obvious.) His family is Muslim and the women dress accordingly - his sister is at all the games in a long robe and scarf. This young man was one of the ones shoving, a behavior that is highly unusual for him. As it turns out, he says (and team mates confirm) that the boy he had the altercation with had been calling him names and had escalated to calling him a terrorist. And he finally broke. So now he has a red card which we are told means he can not play the next 4 games (extending into next years season) and could be fined up to $250! The kid and the other coach are completely denying the whole thing. And the ref says he did not hear it either. And we are being told there is no appeal process. The whole thing really sucks