Sorry, no game today…..

Dear Editor,

A “funny” thing happened on Saturday, Sept. 16. A divisional football game wasn’t played, evidently because of circumstances beyond anyone’s control. 

You might, think some how the game got left off the referee’s schedules, or they all got sick or maybe someone forgot to remind them or maybe someone forgot to confirm the game.  

Anyway, Tioga and their fans drove to Newfield to play the Trojans and at game time, it became apparent the referees weren’t there yet. Close to an hour later they still weren’t there.  

It was about that time an announcement was made that “no game is going to be played today. Sorry.” That was it.  

Players, coaches and fans had milled around wondering what was going on, while one lady kept reassuring us that they were trying to reach Section IV officials to find other officials, so we waited.  

Then we got the word. “Sorry.” He might as well said, “Have a nice day.” That’s how bad it hurt. I still haven’t heard an explanation of what really happened, but I can guess.  

I read that Tioga offered to play Monday night at Tioga, but Newfield declined because they were scheduled to play Friday night and someone might get hurt and they would be short handed. They might have asked Groton if they could play Saturday night instead, but they probably didn’t think of it.

It seems inexcusable, to me that this could happen. Don’t they teach the need to be responsible and accountable anymore? Probably. Shouldn’t there be consequences for negligence? Yes, there should.   

However, I have not heard a word of apology or any mention of “trying to make this right” or even “my bad” and I don’t expect I will. The idea that this game goes down as a “no contest” is hard to take. A forfeit is bad enough, but this is much worse. 

To practice so hard and prepare so carefully for a week and then get mentally and emotionally ready to play on game day and not be able to is really cruel. With no real explanation as to why this happened, people were left trying to make the best of a bad situation.  

It is a 60-mile “round trip” from Tioga to Newfield. This made for a very sad ride home. Players lost their opportunities for playing time and personal achievements. Coaches lost the chance to see if their week of hard work “worked.” Fans were deprived of watching their team and the money spent on transport went for nothing.   

It was easy to feel “ripped off” and very wary of it ever happening again. Could it happen again? I believe so. We may not know exactly how it happened, but if they are not on our schedule next time we won’t have to worry about it.

Sincerely,

Doug Graves

Tioga Center, N.Y.