Below is an email I received from one of our Tricounty teams. I do NOT feel that the league is in "dire state" as he states. I do not agree that we must take any of these desperate actions that he outlines. The vast majority of our games are played with respect for players and sportsmanship but in a competitive nature. I did forward this email to the refs to hopefully keep better control and prevent overly aggresive play. I would like the teams to also see this email and instruct their players to play in non violent clean nature. If events demonstrate that players are getting out of control, I will find it necessary to take stern actions. I welcome any comments about the situations being described.

John Santo - League President

From: RFerg68@aol.com
To: jsantobrms@hotmail.com
Subject: A Respectful Note of Concern
Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 09:04:55 EDT

John

At the League meeting back in February, our Club had representatives from each of our four teams present and afterwards we discussed with you in earnest our feelings about the ever increasing trend in the League towards dangerous play and unsportsmanlike behavior. After our opening games of the season it seems that this trend is set to continue unless action is taken by the league to punish those responsible and make it clear that such behavior will not be tolerated

In the first half of our first 30s game (4/25) two of our players were taken down with absolutely vicious sliding tackles FROM BEHIND. On both occasions a yellow card was shown on the basis that "the offending defender was not the last man." Latest FIFA interpretation is that ANY tackle from behind, regardless of the position on the field, that does not result in a fair challenge for the ball is an immediate red card. A similarly awful tackle in the second half now has one of our players with a damaged ankle and not sure when he'll be able to play again. The same match saw one of our foreign players constantly harassed with racial abuse throughout the game.  Almost inevitably, the game descended into a melee after the same player was thrown to the ground by the opposition while setting up a defensive wall. Several of our players made an attempt to shake hands at the end of the game but, despite there being family and children nearby, were told by a number of the opposition players to "get the f*** out of here" and "go the f*** home..."

This is surely not the environment that we are trying to create for this league.   Unfortunately, the behavior is not limited to the most competitive over 30's division, as similar over aggressive tackling has been seen in the early O 40's games for the season.

This is an adult recreational league in which players have careers and family responsibilities to fulfill the rest of the week and frequently have families that attend the matches. Given this, the behavior described above is absolutely unacceptable and we expect the League to act immediately and decisively to remove the offenders.

Please consider the following actions:

1. Immediate expulsion and a lifetime ban for any player overheard by the referee using racial abuse or intimidation

2.  A multimatch suspension for any player caught using abusive language towards opposing players after a match.

3. Immediate expulsion and a multigame suspension for any player tackling from behind with no fair challenge for the ball.

4. The league should also consider team point deductions particularly for items 1 and 2.

Though each of these actions require the referee to act outside of the strict laws of the game, the dire state that the game within our League now finds itself in demands extreme measures. We need to trust that the League and the referees will act accordingly when this type of unacceptable behavior is witnessed in future. Otherwise we will soon start to lose players and teams as the enjoyment that we are all supposed to get from playing in this league will be lost. Worse yet someone is going to pick up an extremely bad injury in a situation that may not readily be seen as accidental.

Please act quickly to stamp out this behavior and let us get back to enjoying the game

Respectfully submitted,