A friend and I were talking over local level football stuff a couple of weeks back.. Thought you might like these two gems...
Same friend was coaching up north. He'd dropped a player who was the club chairman's son. (Lousy trainer and disruptive around the team) The player and his mate didn't like the decision and kept complaining about it. Friend was adamant it was right especially as the team was performing.. Then the chairman got on the phone, repeatedly, and did the why aren't you playing my son thing. Friend stayed adamant. Team were highest they'd ever been in the league and on their best ever Chatham Cup run.
Final straw. My friend's wife came along to watch a match and the got abused by the chairman's son and his mate. My friend said that was crossing the line. So he packed up all the club gear he had and went to the chairman's house and dumped it on the door step. Chairman came out and told my friend that he couldn't do that. My friend pointed out he could and more to the point that he'd quit.
Next weekend, Chatham Cup tie, the chairman's son is back in the team (Chairman now coach)..... They lost the cup tie by a large margin.... and then proceeded to go the rest of fthe season without a win.
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At Uni , 2009,I heard a guy having a bit of a rant to his mate about football. It was clear I was listening so he told me what had happened.
He played second team football, in the Wellington region, and was the team's top scorer and for the last match of the season 'the club' decided to start him on the bench. In order bring in a first team striker to make sure they got the win to secure promotion.
End result. His team drew 0-0 and didn't go up. He didn't get on the pitch at all. The first team striker missed a pen in the last ten minutes.
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