If the coach had played the 1st string the whole time, then it would have been unsportsmanlike. However, he had his 3rd string in.
The reason the “no one loses” sports leagues exist is because of some bonehead parents.
When I was a kid in Little League, my dad was the coach and be was a very fair coach. He didnt play favorites (he actually feels that he should have shown me special treatment, but I tell him he did just fine). However, there were a few families who were always riding my dad to play their kid here or there. I kept getting moved around the ball field to satisfy those parents. I usually played 1st base. One day, after lots of nagging, my dad switched the two us. He went to 1st and me to 3rd. Neither of us were used to playing the new positions. The parents were sitting on the 3rd base side that game. I could hear everything they were saying in the stands. I was fielding plenty of hot shots at third, not all cleanly. They would say, “Ahh, our son would have had that”. Every play, a snide remark. Finally, there was one hot shot that came my way and my throw was low, but catchable. I made scooping catches from their son all the time. Well, he missed the scoop and then I started to hear “oh come on, our son would never throw such a terrible throw” blah, blah, blah. I lost my cool then and snapped. I turned and yelled back at those parents and then my dad forfeited the game.
I was so hurt and upset. But wasn’t about the game, it was the parents.
Leagues put these “no one loses” things in place because of these bonehead parents. But it the wrong measage. You should keep score, everyone should not get trophies.
If you want to protect kids, keep the idiot parents away from the games and give trophies to winners only. I was totally insulted the first time I got a trophy for last place.
