To the editor:
Just a couple of weeks ago, I attended a very exciting soccer game in Caribou. The Lady Vikings of Caribou and the Lady Wildcats of Presque Isle played for the Eastern Maine Championship.
The game had all of the elements. A cool but bright November evening, hundreds and hundreds of fans from both communities and a rivalry that I hope will live on for generations. Both teams played a courageous and inspired game. At the end Caribou won 3-0. I was so proud of our girls but also proud of the way the Lady Wildcats kept fighting even down 3-0. It was like most sporting events in the County; competitive, great sport and great sportsmanship.
After the game the Caribou girls all got together and came across the field to thank the fans and their families. It was one of those special moments. You could just feel the pride and the emotion as the girls waved and said thanks. There were a lot of moist eyes in the crowd and a lot of hoarse voices. Next would be the State Championship game against Falmouth. With high expectations the evening came to an end.
While I was anticipating the State Championship game I was surprised to learn that the Maine Principals Association had decided that the game would have to be played on artificial turf. That seemed odd but that wasn’t the worst of it. The shocker came when we learned that the game would be played on the Falmouth team’s home field. They decided this even though there were a number of other options. We all wondered how or why would this organization – the Maine Principals Association — step in with this arbitrary and ill-conceived idea that flies in the face of anyone’s conception of fairness. The decision had the potential to ruin this marvelous experience for the Lady Vikings who have worked their entire young lives for this moment.
While parents of players, friends and town fathers and mothers tried every way they could to get this decision changed it was to no avail. Arrogance, “it’s our way or the highway.” But what about reason? Everyone knows, including I think, the MPA, the power of “home field advantage.” It is why all major championships from the Super Bowl to the Final Four, from the State Basketball Championships to High School Football and Hockey are played on neutral turf. Teams are more familiar with their home field, more comfortable playing on it and a mountain of evidence exists to analyze the advantages and you just don’t want to do anything that gives one side an advantage over another in such a pivotal game. But with all the protesting and all the heartache, the MPA would not be moved. It wasn’t bad enough that the Caribou girls would have to play on the home field of their opponent, but they would have to drive nearly six hours first. It was just another example of the “Other Maine” Syndrome.
Well, the Caribou girls played valiantly and lost 1-0 on a penalty kick. Had the game been 5-0 or worse I guess we would have to say it wouldn’t have mattered where the game was played. But these teams were evenly matched. No, it was simply arrogance triumphing over reason.
Of course there was an artificial turf soccer field in Presque Isle but no one would have expected Falmouth to travel there, we all know that the road only goes one way. But there was more than one artificial turf field in what we call central Maine — the Bangor area, and a variety of other options were available but there was no compromise. To the MPA this may have been just another State Championship Game, but to those girls who had the chance, often, once in a lifetime, to feel that unimaginable emotion of being the best in one thing for one shining moment in their lives it meant a whole lot more. I am sure that the Principals Association will have their explanations of just why no other decision could have been made and after all they are the boss. But listening to the parents of these girls they will have a lot of explaining to do.
In spite of it all we could not be more proud of our Lady Vikings. Amidst all the controversy they kept their eyes on the prize and did us proud. We are going to celebrate their great season. They will surely have memories they will never forget and there is always next year. But it is my hope that this experience will lead to change. Such a stubborn and arrogant response from adults who should know better puts a bad taste for authority in the mouths of young adults and it seems now more than ever we should be doing all we can to strengthen faith and trust.
Bill Flagg
Stockholm
