This is something I have thought of in the past, usually from a professional standpoint. I usually avoid actually posting it, because the professional world is different. Goal differential can be a major component at the end of the season; you have a limited number of subs, so you can't just put on your youth team once the game is in hand;etc. What about at the youth level? I'm sure we have been one side or the other of a blowout. When we were the one dominating a specific game, we stopped attempting to score and essentially played keep away, which I think looked worse than if we scored. On the other side, we were on the other end of a blow-out. It was a team of 4th/5th graders against a team of 5th/6th graders (the league doesn't use the age mandate, though it is required for non-league games). At one point late, it felt like the other coach was really pushing for his team to get another score. I wasn't sure the motivation -- maybe he had made some personnel changes, though I seem to recall the same key players in the same spots. Is there such thing as running up the score? How do you identify it? How do you handle it on either side of the scoreboard?
Of course there is such a thing as running up the score. The better teams don't do it. They'll either play keep away (which I can see how some feel that's worse), put in subs, or put people in unnatural positions (defends play forwards, forwards play mids, mids play D, etc). The better leagues/tournaments take steps to prevent it meaning anything (have a limit on GD per game, usually 3 or 4). On the losing side, I don't know that there's anything you really can do other than keep encouraging the kids. Way back when DS was U10, we were in the final group game of a tournament. We were up 5/6-0. DS's coach told them to start passing (had to pass 21 times before attempting to score). The other team's coach didn't like this. He told his team to stop where they are. My son at CB had just gotten the ball. He saw the other team had stopped so he just put his foot on the ball and stood there. No one moved for 30 seconds to a minute. Finally, one of the opponents yelled "I can't take this" and ran toward DS to put pressure on him. They all started playing again.
No reason to do it. The team with the upper hand can practice possession (not score), take a player off the field - move players out of their typical positions as sam mentioned above. Only an asshole coach would run up the score IMO.
Just under the category of continuing the discussion, at what point does it become "running up the score"/coach is an asshole? If he takes steps to not run up the score (all the various above things listed), and the team still scores, is that bad? If you play down one player, put in all your subs, etc and still score, should you be criticized? If all you're doing is passing without attempting to score, isn't that as insulting? I'm generally not fully comfortable until my team is up 5. But if you start putting in subs at that point, shouldn't the subs have a chance to "show what they can do"? Our middle school conference has a 10 goal difference limit. If one team goes up 10, the game is called.
My son has been on both sides of lopsided, blow-out score lines…I don’t really have a problem with it either way… I would agree with doing subtle things, like moving players out of their typical positions, in an attempt to mitigate the run up, but even that might not help much…my CB son may only get to play up top during a favorable blow-out, and hell yeah, he’s trying to score…as he should…doesn’t make him or his coach an asshole… Not a fan of overtly playing mini-games within the larger context or placing artificial requirements before or how the dominating team attacks the goal…I find these things more insulting then just playing things straight up, even if that means crushing the shit out of them or us… End of the day, win or lose doesn’t matter…neither does score line…
One example is a coach who not only wants to win but wants to wing buy a lot. I know in this case this particular coach was up 8-2 and 10-0 in two seperat games and still refused to put in players who were at the lower end of his team in terms of skill. That coach lost 1/3rd of the team at the end of the season for that sort of coaching. That's an asshole coach IMO.
I've seen a couple of extremes here, having been on the receiving end of waaaay too many blowouts as a coach and parent. (I've been on the "giving" end of two -- one in U8 soccer where we weren't keeping score, one this season in U14 in which I switched my defense and attackers, only to see the defenders show they could score, too.) One coach assumed his team would beat us in a blowout, so as soon as his team took the lead, he kept yelling at them to use their left foot, complete a few passes, etc. That was far more humiliating to my guys than the final score, which I think was 4-3. In U9 travel, before the buildout lines, it was easy to score a lot of goals by just pouncing on the goal kicks. A terrified goalkeeper isn't going to get many passes out and away. In one case, as the score ticked upwards (15, 16 ... I think the final was around 22), their coach said nothing. The PARENTS were getting pissed off at their own kids -- not so much because of the sportsmanship angle but because they simply weren't playing soccer. The parents were yelling at their kids to get back, spread out, pass it, etc. One of them told me after the game the coach didn't know what he was doing. That might be the one thing that gives me any hope in youth soccer these days. That sort of coach isn't fooling as many parents as he thought.
Not to go in a tangent on my original post, but I am not clear on the build out line. What you described is what I think still happens at my U9 girls games. (I don't see the same issues for my U12 daughter's teams).
I have shared this before but when I was coaching my son's rec team there was that one coach that always ran the score up when the situation presented itself and was universally hated by the rest of the league. The league, recognizing this, gave the traditional 3 points for a win, 1 for a tie but also, in lieu of goal differential, gave 1 point for every goal scored, up to 3 in the standings. My son's team was down 5-0 or something and you could see there was no calling the dogs off so I changed my game plan. I decided we would get our 3 "goal" points however we could and send a message. I moved up everyone into the offensive half of the field, including the keeper and played one field player at about a 3/4 field stopper. The result was we got our 3 goals and it became comical because of the obscene number of offside calls against the other team. Their coach (and players and parents) would lose their minds every time the flag went up because there was a defender between them and the goal, no one was bright enough to realize it is the second to last defender and if the keeper is not stuck to the line there was only one defender. I got more satisfaction from that game than any of the other games he has played. It taught the masses how offside works, demonstrated to our team that sometimes you fight to reach your own goals without worrying about the other team's goals, and most importantly taught the other coach about gamesmanship and sportsmanship. It took a while for your kids and parents to understand what I was doing and why but they all came away with a greater understanding of using the rules to your advantage and making the most of what you are given.
The old NASL points system! I'd never thought about how well it could work in a youth league, but this is brilliant!