Kids show the true spirit of football (From Your Local Guardian)

Kids show the true spirit of football

12:59pm Thursday 8th December 2011 in Other Football By Nick Gentry

With the win-at-all-costs nature of professional football now reaching grassroots level, it is perhaps time to take a leaf out of a group of eight and nine-year-olds from Coulsdon.

Coulsdon Colts U9s were all set to play Epsom & Ewell U9s on Saturday morning until the opposition coach refused to let their eight-year-old goalkeeper play simply because he had forgotten his registration card.

Although it is a league rule to be able to display every player’s registration card, it is rarely enforced at such a young age.

But rather than let their friend sit out of the game, the boys asked under what circumstances he could play and their 18-year-old coach, Jose Ortiz, came up with the idea of forfeiting the points to the other team and playing the game as a friendly.

The youngsters agreed without any hesitation, concerned not with points but with playing together and having fun.

“They were perfectly happy to do it because one of our players was sat on the sidelines very upset with no hope of playing,” said a proud Ortiz.

They ended up winning the game 2-0 and the goalkeeper had very little to do.