In the six and a half years I've been editor at Coast Reporter and covering the sports scene, I've witnessed a lot of great things - many championships in youth and adult sports, many wonderful individual athletic achievements, too many to even remember. But I've also witnessed a lot of troubling things and seen on one too many occasions the abuse that our athletes and coaches can be subjected to at the hands of some off-Coast athletes and coaches.
Last Saturday I was covering a full day of baseball at Ryan Dempster Field of Dreams. It started with a double-header between a pair of Richmond teams and our Gibsons Devlins. The games went a little long, meaning the junior men's game between the Jays and Ridge Meadows Mudhens, scheduled for 3:30 p.m., would be starting about 45 minutes late.
Now, this situation in not uncommon and certainly is nothing new to teams from the Lower Mainland. Scheduling issues happen all the time. It's just a fact of life when you're involved in amateur sport, so you would think that when the Mudhens arrived at the park they would have been somewhat accommodating when they found out that their game would start later than 3:30. Guess again. The coach of the Mudhens insisted that his team needed to catch the 6:20 p.m. ferry back to the Mainland and they were not willing to play at the later time.He informed the Gibsons coach and league president that he was going to claim a forfeit and that his squad was only willing to play a short exhibition game.
Despite repeated attempts by our coaches and players, there was no room for compromise. In fact, the Ridge Meadows players and coaches were quite rude, profane and very unco-operative in negotiations. The last place any of them wanted to be Saturday was Gibsons, it appeared.
Sunshine Coast athletes are at a tremendous disadvantage when it comes to competing with Lower Mainland sports teams - due to travel on B.C. Ferries. It's a fact of life every weekend to see athletes on our ferry going to the Mainland to compete. In the case of the Jays, they will travel to the Mainland eight times this season. That's a tremendous cost and sacrifice, but they do it because they want to play baseball and want to play in this league.
Sunshine Coast hockey, soccer, baseball, high school teams - all of them throughout the years - have experienced some situation where a team from the Lower Mainland either refused to come to here to compete, or when they got here, acted like world-class idiots and complained about the facilities or officiating or just complained in general because they felt they were somehow entitled. It's quite sad that this happens, but is a reality.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying all Mainland teams and athletes have this attitude. Many have come to the Coast for games and tournaments and have appreciated the wonderful hospitality and enjoyable experience. I just wish that more teams would realize what our athletes go through on a weekly basis and show a bit more class and some sportsmanship when they come here.
