IS THIS THE ULTIMATE IN POLITICALLY CORRECT LOONINESS?

"Junior football teams in Scotland are to be banned from playing in league and cup competitions in order to protect them from the pain of losing. In future, the losing side (henceforth to be known as "the runners-up") will be allowed to field two extra players. If one team is more than five goals ahead at half-time, the score will revert to nil-nil...

The rewriting of the Scottish rulebook follows a row last week over a match in the Sheffield and District Junior Sunday League. Chesterfield’s Brampton Rovers under-nine team beat Waltheof, the Sheffield junior team, 29 -0, a score reported in the Derbyshire Times. League officials have told players that no scores above 14-0 can be made public and have asked the newspaper to refrain from publishing them. The fear is that playing for teams which suffer such heavy defeats humiliates children....

Edinburgh City Council’s officials may believe that by eliminating the competitive element of football, they are concentrating on teaching skills and social interaction, but they are sending out a much more sinister message. Children will learn that the rules can be rewritten to suit yourself, that performance does not matter, that you need never push yourself to your absolute limit and that losing must be avoided at all costs. In short, they will learn that mediocrity is not merely acceptable, it is desirable.

Most children are intensely competitive. They can turn anything into a contest: getting dressed, eating breakfast, breaking wind, behaving badly. You name it; it is much better fun if you pit yourself against a deadly rival, particularly if they happen to be a sibling. Attempting to eradicate competition from a child’s life is as pointless and cruel as trying to stifle their sense of humour.

Sport teaches children to work together in teams to achieve a common goal. It allows them to compete emotionally and physically in a controlled environment. It provides an acceptable outlet for feelings of aggression and it teaches them how to harness negative emotions and turn them into something positive.

Children have an incredibly strong sense of natural justice. Their understanding of fair play is highly developed at a very young age. We tamper with that at our peril. If it is acceptable to "cheat" in sport, is it admissible to "cheat" in exams? When filling in a job application form? When doing our tax return? ...

Without the competitive element, sport becomes boring and pointless.... Any parent who has comforted a weeping child after a sporting disaster will sympathise with what Edinburgh City Council’s officials are trying to achieve. But they will also know that disappointment cannot be postponed indefinitely in life and that it is easier to bear the more often it happens."