# Allowing a thoroughly defeated opponent to score a consolation point **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 12, 2010, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914 "2010-06-12T13:08:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/21 "2010-06-14T13:05:14Z")
> [@j66](#): > > . > > Could this be some cricket thing? No definatly not. In cricket if its obvious you are going to win, sides are in a hurry to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/22 "2010-06-14T16:09:16Z")
When I was in high school ages ago, the basketball team dominated our local league enough that typically with 5-8 minutes left in the game, they’d ease up on the opponent. Easing up entailed discontinuing the full-court press and subbing in the second team. This inevitably reduced the margin of victory, unless the opponent responded by putting in their second team. I can’t remember anyone complaining about such end-game tactics. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/23 "2010-06-15T02:24:54Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > No definatly not. In cricket if its obvious you are going to win, sides are in a hurry to do so. Even in limited overs games? I didn’t know that. But then, I know nothing about cricket; I’m mildly amazed that I know about limited overs games. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/24 "2010-06-15T02:40:24Z")
Random observation about sportsmanship in runaway games… In the games I have officiated I would summarize the mentality of letting someone lose ‘with grace’ as: “It’s OK let up on Offense, but never on Defense.” ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/25 "2010-06-15T02:57:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Not quite the same thing, but I saw a college women’s basketball game once where one of the opposing players was one basket away from setting a record, but had broken her leg. At the very beginning of the game, our team stood aside and let her get the score, then their team let us get one to match it, before she subbed out of the game and play continued as normal. Later, I heard that this was extremely controversial, which was a shame, since (even aside from the friendly gesture at the beginning) it was the best basketball game I’d ever seen. > > I don’t remember who the team was with the injured player, but the other team was Villanova, and it would have been some time in between 1995 and 1999. That does seem very unsportsman-like to me. Records that are simply given away are meaningless, i am sure whoever held the record before that lady did it without the other team handing it to her. That just seems dirty and cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/26 "2010-06-15T05:39:19Z")
Well, the idea was that without the broken leg, she would have easily beat the record on her own. Letting her have the basket was a way of undoing some of the damage of the broken leg. I agree that it’d be entirely inappropriate if her chance of getting the record were spoiled by, say, graduating and leaving the team (since that something that every college player has to deal with). ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/27 "2010-06-15T06:27:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Well, the idea was that without the broken leg, she would have easily beat the record on her own. Letting her have the basket was a way of undoing some of the damage of the broken leg. I agree that it’d be entirely inappropriate if her chance of getting the record were spoiled by, say, graduating and leaving the team (since that something that every college player has to deal with). Don’t you think there have been other records that have stood due to injuries to other players? Just because the injury happens 1 game from the record shouldn’t be any different than if that player missed a game early in the season with a sprained ankle. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/28 "2010-06-15T07:05:28Z")
[This story is about kids soccer teams required to narrow the margin of victory](http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/05/31/ottawa-gloucester-dragons-soccer-point.html) Although it’s certainly not an act of sportsmanship, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1984 actually intentionally let an opponent score to get the ball back–to help their running back set a record! [Read toward the end of this article.](http://www.sptimes.com/2003/01/26/Bucs/So_who_s_laughing_now.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/29 "2010-06-15T10:04:40Z")
This never happens in football (soccer), where keeping a clean sheet is an achievement. ---
**Author:** ![ColdPhoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@ColdPhoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColdPhoenix)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/30 "2010-06-15T12:41:11Z")
Omagh Town (part-time players) played against some Premier League teams for charity (following the Omagh bomb). The score against Liverpool was Omagh Town 1 - 7 Liverpool: > **[Liverpool FC — Homepage](https://www.liverpoolfc.com)** > > The official Liverpool FC website. The only place to visit for all your LFC news, videos, history and match information. Full stats on LFC players, club products, official partners and lots more. Chelsea (Omagh Town 0-8 Chelsea) and Man U (Omagh Town 0-9 Man U) weren’t so charitable: [http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~857146,00.html](http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~857146,00.html) [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-60433455.html](http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-60433455.html) Maybe not all the money went to charity however… > **[BBC News | NORTHERN IRELAND | 'Omagh cash cleared club debts'](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/733168.stm)** > > A BBC investigation uncovers evidence that thousands of pounds, raised by celebrity football matches for the Omagh Memorial Fund did not benefit victims. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/31 "2010-06-15T12:50:35Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > [This story is about kids soccer teams required to narrow the margin of victory](http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/05/31/ottawa-gloucester-dragons-soccer-point.html) From that link: > [@](#): > > A team that wins a soccer game by more than five goals will be declared the loser in an Ottawa children’s recreational soccer league. So if you’re behind by 5 (or possibly fewer), “own goal” becomes the correct strategy. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/32 "2010-06-15T14:19:22Z")
[Here’s](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/collegesports/2004381880_vecsey30.html)one of my favorite stories from sports. It is not exactly the same thing, but close. > [@](#): > > Sara Tucholsky, a diminutive senior for Western Oregon, hit what looked like a three-run homer against Central Washington. Never in her 21 years had Tucholsky propelled a ball over a fence, so she did not have her home run trot in order, gazing in awe, missing first base. When she turned back to touch the bag, her right knee buckled, and she went down, crying and crawling back to first base… > > Pam Knox, the Western Oregon coach, made sure no teammates touched Tucholsky, which would have automatically made her unable to advance. The umpires ruled that if Tucholsky could not make it around the bases, two runs would score but she would be credited with only a single. (“She’ll kill me if I take it away from her,” Knox thought.) > > Then Mallory Holtman, the powerful first baseman for Central Washington, said words that brought a chill to everybody who heard them: > > “Excuse me, would it be OK if we carried her around and she touched each bag?” Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/33 "2010-06-15T14:39:16Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > [Here’s](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/collegesports/2004381880_vecsey30.html)one of my favorite stories from sports. It is not exactly the same thing, but close. That actually made me cry. Good girls. Good coach. Did you see [this one](http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=5218228)? > [@](#): > > It happened at a junior varsity girls’ softball game in Indianapolis this spring. After an inning and a half, Roncalli was womanhandling inner-city Marshall Community. Marshall pitchers had already walked nine Roncalli batters. The game could’ve been 50-0 with no problem. > > It’s no wonder. This was the first softball game in Marshall history. A middle school trying to move up to include grades 6 through 12, Marshall showed up to the game with five balls, two bats, no helmets, no sliding pads, no cleats, 16 players who’d never played before, and a coach who’d never even seen a game. > > One Marshall player asked, “Which one is first base?” Another: “How do I hold this bat?” They didn’t know where to stand in the batter’s box. Their coaches had to be shown where the first- and third-base coaching boxes were. > > That’s when Roncalli did something crazy. It offered to forfeit. > > Yes, a team that hadn’t lost a game in 2½ years, a team that was going to win in a landslide purposely offered to declare defeat. Why? Because Roncalli wanted to spend the two hours teaching the Marshall girls how to get better, not how to get humiliated. ---
**Author:** ![rpinrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@rpinrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rpinrd)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/34 "2010-06-15T15:03:30Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > No, in professional sports never. > > I, however, also disagree with the let-down in US sports, particualrly American football, when teams will try their utmost not to score when winning by a large margin. I understand second and third stringers, but let them go for it. And the end-of-game series of kneel-downs should be a capitla offense. Don’t forget that the risk of injury in American Football is INCREDIBLY high. Also, there is the matter of a turnover leading to a defensive score. So at the end of a game, why would a team that is leading risk either an injury or give the trailing team an opportunity for a defensive score? Kneeling down is a matter of preserving victory and health more than a matter of sportsmanship. As for letting down when leading be a large margin - yes, teams will often switch from an aggressive, pass-oriented attack to a run attack when leading. And, yes, there is an unwritten sportsmanship rule in football that you shouldn’t be throwing the ball when leading by a large margin. But again, there is a strategic reason for doing this. Since the clock stops after an incomplete pass, pass plays frequently will run only a few seconds off the clock. Conversely, running plays tend to keep the clock going. It is in the leading team’s best interest to run out the clock as quickly as possible, so they switch to running plays. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/35 "2010-06-15T15:11:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Not quite the same thing, but I saw a college women’s basketball game once where one of the opposing players was one basket away from setting a record, but had broken her leg. At the very beginning of the game, our team stood aside and let her get the score, then their team let us get one to match it, before she subbed out of the game and play continued as normal. This strikes me as being highly unfair to the woman who held the record, as presumably all her points were scored in competition. I’m willing to bet that _she_ had some injury related downtime as well. Why would the one with the broken leg even want to participate in this charade? Injuries are part of the game. Deal with them and move on. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/36 "2010-06-15T17:41:50Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > [This story is about kids soccer teams required to narrow the margin of victory](http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/05/31/ottawa-gloucester-dragons-soccer-point.html) OK, I don’t get this. Cale, the league chair, says on the one hand that this rule has been in place for years, but then says that it’s necessary because last year teams were winning 14-0 or 16-0. Which is it? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/37 "2010-06-15T17:49:51Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > From that link: > > So if you’re behind by 5 (or possibly fewer), “own goal” becomes the correct strategy. Hell, with that rule in place one might as well get rid of the goalkeeper altogether. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/38 "2010-06-15T18:35:41Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > That does seem very unsportsman-like to me. Records that are simply given away are meaningless, i am sure whoever held the record before that lady did it without the other team handing it to her. That just seems dirty and cheap. Maybe a little. But if I remember right, the main objection to it at the time was sportswriters throwing out idiotic ideas like “What if the defense had held her scoreless?” To that I say, bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![FrobozzWiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3ab097/32.png) [@FrobozzWiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrobozzWiz)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/39 "2010-06-15T20:08:48Z")
> [@ColdPhoenix](#): > > Omagh Town (part-time players) played against some Premier League teams for charity (following the Omagh bomb). > > The score against Liverpool was Omagh Town 1 - 7 Liverpool: > [Liverpool FC — Homepage](http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/match/fixtures/first-team/omagh-town-v-liverpool-1999-10-18-00-00-00) I finally thought I had a case with this one. Exactly what I was looking for: Premiership team vs a no name group of part-time players in a non-competition match with a score that could only mean that after Liverpool scored seven goals they let the plucky young upstarts get one back as a sign of respect and sportsmanship… Unfortunately the only report I can find on the match says that the Omagh Town goal was the first one scored in the ninth minute\*. So instead we have a story of a premiership team underestimating their opponents, conceding an early goal, and then soundly thrashing them over the remaining eighty minutes. Not exactly the feel-good fairytale I was hoping for. That, plus the scores from the other two matches, puts the final nails into the coffin of my theory. \*[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-61078618.html](http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-61078618.html) ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914/40 "2010-06-15T20:32:08Z")
There was a case in high school football in Kansas where one team let a player on the other team with Downs syndrome to score. [http://www.kansascity.com/2009/09/17/1452971/rivals-cooperate-on-touchdown.html](http://www.kansascity.com/2009/09/17/1452971/rivals-cooperate-on-touchdown.html) That’s a little off topic, but it’s in the spirit of what’s being asked, I think. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allowing-a-thoroughly-defeated-opponent-to-score-a-consolation-point/542914.md?page=3)