We received an email from our Under 15 A coach on Saturday evening after witnessing an amazing act of sportsmanship from the South Wallsend club on Saturday at Walker Fields

It is great to see sportsmanship is still alive to this day!

During the BMYFC U15A game vs South Wallsend yesterday at Walker Fields we had a referee that made a very obviously wrong decision to award a penalty against a Magic player for a hand ball in the penalty area. It was actually the South Wallsend attacker that hand balled in our penalty area. The South Wallsend duty officer and the coaching staff asked the referee to come to the sideline where they advised him that the South Wallsend player hand balled and not the Magic player. This alone was a great gesture on their behalf as I was not expecting them to do this for our team.

The referee refused to take their counsel and proceeded to award the penalty. At this stage of the game it was still 0-0 and the referee had already awarded South Wallsend a penalty earlier in the game for a hand ball in our penalty area that Michael our keeper saved.

The South Wallsend coach then advised me that he did not want his team to win a match by such an obviously wrong decision from the referee. He proceeded to advise his player taking the penalty to kick the penalty to the keeper so that he can save it, which he did. The game finished 0-0.

I congratulated him after the game for showing everyone at that field great sportsmanship and that it is not just about winning a game at all costs. What a great message was sent to all players and parents that watched that game. I wonder how many other coaches would have done the same???

I was hoping that BMYFC would contact South Wallsend to inform them of this great act of sportsmanship as I believe that this needs to be recognised from our club to South Wallsend.

Regards

Mark Hancock

BMYFC U15A Coach 2018