cancelled tournaments

As a player, Ive played in games from college to club to recreational. I've been in games that should have been called and games that have benn called and not. If there in no lightning or thunder or anything, I think your son's team got screwed into not playing or just simply playing pk's. That sounds really weird, without being there and knowing all the details, I could not give you a fair assesment. One of the main reasons games are cancelled are due to the making up of other important games, games that mean something in the tournament. But if it is as you described, I do not see why they cancelled them all. I would deffinatly call thr tournament director and find out why, becuase essentially you are a customer and and if they posed that in their tournament rules they should then abide by that.

 

Let me know what ends up happening or more details when you get a chance....I am just curoius to what he says or you find out.

 

Although I was not involved in this tournament I remember reading about a similar situation a few years back. In San Bernadino, CA they had an inaugral tournament to celebrate the opening of the brand new soccer complex for State Cup games. Well, the same thing happened and so they didn't get to use the fields and just did PK shootouts. I think I would be pissed if my team payed 300+ dollars to enter a tournament and all the games were canceled. But I think whoever owns the fields doesn't want them damaged, because it is expensive to fix.

 

i hate to think that i sound like i'm someone's grandfather, explaining that when i was kid, i had to walk uphill both ways to and from school in the snow, . . . but

it sure seems to me that when i was a kid we used to play in the rain, and that games were only called because of lightning. i can remember one game with a puddle of water in front of the goal that was probably six yards in diameter. if you got lucky enough to get the ball down the field, you had to remember to shoot in the air, because anything on the ground got sucked up by the puddle.

that said, that was then and this is now. both in tournament games and league games, there seems to be a significantly different standard for canceling games. i was coaching at a tournament a year ago where they canceled the last day and a half of games (and they didn't bother with penalty kicks and instead just flipped coins to determine who made and then who won the finals). my impression is that it's the field owners who are, rightly or wrongly, trying to stop games from being played on wet surfaces, for the purpose of protecting the fields as opposed to protecting the players. although i think this is a different standard, i'm not sure it is a wrong one. your son and other missed out on a tournament, but at what expense to the fields and to other kids who may still have games to play their this season, and future seasons. with more and more kids playing, and there being less and less field space, protecting the fields has become as much a priority as protecting the kids.

of course, if this is the standard they were using, it's a much different scenario that the "rain or shine" advertisement that you got. i'd call and ask, but i'm sure you'll be told that there was material that said that they get to make these decisions in their sole discretion and that they believed that the fields were in jeopardy following the rain (and they'll probably also throw in that they were concerned about the safety of the kids). it probably won't do you much good to fight it after that. if rain is normal weather this time of year, you're probably best off looking for a different tournament next year, but keep in mind you're likely to ge the same result there if there is inclement weather.