Dear Editor,<\/p>\n
A \u201cfunny\u201d thing happened on Saturday, Sept. 16. A divisional football game wasn\u2019t played, evidently because of circumstances beyond anyone\u2019s control. <\/p>\n
You might, think some how the game got left off the referee\u2019s schedules, or they all got sick or maybe someone forgot to remind them or maybe someone forgot to confirm the game. <\/p>\n
Anyway, Tioga and their fans drove to Newfield to play the Trojans and at game time, it became apparent the referees weren\u2019t there yet. Close to an hour later they still weren\u2019t there. <\/p>\n
It was about that time an announcement was made that \u201cno game is going to be played today. Sorry.\u201d That was it. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Then we got the word. \u201cSorry.\u201d He might as well said, \u201cHave a nice day.\u201d That\u2019s how bad it hurt. I still haven\u2019t heard an explanation of what really happened, but I can guess. <\/p>\n
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\u2019t think of it.<\/p>\n
It seems inexcusable, to me that this could happen. Don\u2019t they teach the need to be responsible and accountable anymore? Probably. Shouldn\u2019t there be consequences for negligence? Yes, there should. <\/p>\n
However, I have not heard a word of apology or any mention of \u201ctrying to make this right\u201d or even \u201cmy bad\u201d and I don\u2019t expect I will. The idea that this game goes down as a \u201cno contest\u201d is hard to take. A forfeit is bad enough, but this is much worse. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
It is a 60-mile \u201cround trip\u201d 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 \u201cworked.\u201d Fans were deprived of watching their team and the money spent on transport went for nothing. <\/p>\n
It was easy to feel \u201cripped off\u201d 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\u2019t have to worry about it.<\/p>\n
Sincerely,<\/p>\n
Doug Graves<\/p>\n
Tioga Center, N.Y.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Editor, A \u201cfunny\u201d thing happened on Saturday, Sept. 16. A divisional football game wasn\u2019t played, evidently because of circumstances beyond anyone\u2019s control. You might, think…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters"],"yoast_head":"\n