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Title: How an 8-year-old's first touchdown resulted in a $500 fine, coach suspension
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URL Source: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index. ... ouchdown_fined_mercy_rule.html
Published: Oct 26, 2014
Author: Allie Healy
Post Date: 2014-10-26 12:26:49 by A K A Stone
Keywords: None
Views: 596
Comments: 1
Elijah Burrell did what he was taught to do if he intercepted the football -- score a touchdown. But the 8-year-old's pick-six play wasn't much to celebrate after the team was fined $500 for violating the Gwinnett Football League's mercy rule. lawrencville-football-team.jpgScreenshot from CBS 46
CBS 46 reports the Lawrenceville Black Knights were winning against their opponents, 32-0, in the fourth quarter. Burrell then intercepted a pass and went through with the touchdown, failing to comply with the league's mercy rule.
That six-point score caused the Georgia-based team to surpass the 33-point rule, which earned the coach a week-long suspension and the team a $500 fine.
Burrell's mothers, Brooke Burdett, told CBS 46 that she and her son were "beyond excited" at first, before learning of the fine.
"He had no idea" Burdett said. "This is his first year. This was his first touchdown. He is an 8-year-old boy making a pick-six."
However, Gwinnett Football League president Erik Richards said the team also showed unsportsmanlike conduct by laying on the ground, running off the field and mocking opposing players, CBS 46 says.
Other parents on the team said they tried to instruct Burrell to not score, but failed, USA Today says. One mother, Chando John, said the parents were "literally telling him to stop," but Burrell proceeded to the end zone.
Burdett calls the $500 fine and coach suspension "excessive," and said the team would have accepted a $100 fine. Richards said the fine for violating the mercy rule is $100, and sometimes the fine is waived if it's a defensive play. But because of the team's unsportsmanlike conduct, the fine stands.
Parents of the Black Knights say the team has never shown unsportsmanlike conduct in their games, CBS 46 adds.
Chando believes the rule should be changed, as she thinks it's difficult for young players to remember it in the heat of the moment, Fox 10 reports.
"It is hard having an 8-year-old in flight to think of everything everybody has said, other than I need to make a touchdown," she said.
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#1. To: A K A Stone (#0)
What if that was the only touchdown the kid scored all season? If that were the case then they were robbing him of his moment of glory. I wonder what this guy would think about such nonsense?
Other parents on the team said they tried to instruct Burrell to not score, but failed, USA Today says. One mother, Chando John, said the parents were "literally telling him to stop," but Burrell proceeded to the end zone.
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