A youth coach in Spain has been sacked after winning a game 25-0.
CD Serranos B' under-11's completely annihilated their opponents Benicalap C, based in Valencia, in an eight-a-side game just under a fortnight ago but the manager was given the boot following the game.
The reason being? Club officials felt the manner in which they won was not sportsmanlike, with members of management deeming it to be against the spirit of the game.
"We believe in encouraging respect for your opponents. After the result, we decided that the manager should leave," Pablo Alcaide, who is involved in the club, told Spanish outlet told Spanish outlet El Pais.
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"He didn't manage the situation well."
Image: PA
The manager has got his lawyer on the case, and his representative explained that the coach did not tell his players to pile further misery on the hapless Benicalap C side, instead apparently instructing them to ease off on the attacking side of the game.
But it didn't quite happen, and it continued to rain goals.
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"At no point did he encourage his players to increase the score," Daniel Revenga said.
"On the contrary, he told them to stop pressuring their opponents. But Benicalap C, who had no substitutes, continued attacking and left too many spaces."
The 25-0 drubbing came in Benicalap C's 30th and final game of a season in which they've let in a whopping 247 goals over the course of the campaign.
And though it's never a nice to see a team on the receiving end of such a hiding (believe me I've been there, that 18-2 defeat to Boundary Park circa 2010 still hurts) - how can you tell a team young kids to stop expressing themselves and scoring goals?
The report from El Pais notes that such heavy defeats are a regular occurrence in youth football in Spain, and as a result some clubs do not count goals scored after they've hit ten.
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I'm not having it, though. Though football is all about enjoyment as a youngster, if you want young players to develop and be ruthless and instil a winning mentality, then they should be taught to play to their maximum at all times - even if it does come at the other team's expense.
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What are your thoughts on the topic of 'winning at all costs'?
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