It may be meaningless to you but when your team gets a patch it sure means something to the winners! ... There have been suggestions that the referees are doing a poor job of rating teams. What other objective arbiter is there available to do this? The referee is still the best candidate to rate the teams!

BOTN has pulled the key point from our post and a couple of key points from your post for this response. The point that we were raising is simple. If you cannot find the scoring system (rubrik) that defines the difference between a 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10 score, the scoring is inconsistent and therefore random. If the referee is the best person to rate the teams, one would expect each and every referee to carry the scoring system with them just as they would carry the rules for the State Cup or Long Island Cup. The fact is that they do not carry the rubrik - the rules for scoring.

Now, what does it tell you that they do not carry the rubrik? Do they know where to get a copy? Does a copy even exist? BOTN would be happy to actually share a copy if you could find one.

Quite frankly, we think it is wonderful that your youngsters are excited about winning a chevron or other award. That said, we are asking you to remember it's the random walk that underpins the award.

There is nothing "random" about the award. BoardLoard I must respectfully disagree with you on this point. It does not diminish the award. While the scoring system can be a mystery to some suffice it to say that teams are penalized for obvious things like getting yellow cards and misbehavior. So when a team does not tuck their shirts in (page 28 of the LIJSL Rulebook), or the captains do not wear an identification band, they will lose points on player appearance. therefore they will not score a 5, and may get something like a 2 or 3. That's not such a big hit. But if they do not pay attention or are disrespectful then that comes under "conduct of players" and they will obviously not score a 9 or 10. When players and coaches get yellow cards it they score less than a 7 or eight in both categories they are done. Losers of the award are not objective enough to be the arbiters of whether the award is valid or not. They conveniently forget the disrespectful behavior, the dissent and the number of cards that were given to their team during the game. Even though you see it at the highest level of games you also rarely see players shake the hand of the referee after the game. This can be a rare event. It may not be part of the scoring but it shows a lack of manners. I have seen Coaches send the wrong message to players by refusing to shake the hand of an opposing Coach which comes under the scoring category of conduct of Coaches. Also I have seen very few examples of "fair play". For example it is customary that when a game is stopped for a dropped ball ALL professional teams let the team that had possession of the ball at the time the action was stopped have the ball. I have seen this during LIJSL only a handful of times. It's not the players fault, the coaches are not teaching them fair play. The same goes for kicking a ball out of play by an opponent when a player is hurt, it rarely happens. While this may not necessarily affect the scoring it shows a lack of sporting behavior. I have also seen overt aggressive behavior like kicking an out of play ball further away to delay the throw-in, a yellow card for delaying the restart and quite unsporting. Coaches forget when that happens perhaps because they are teaching these tactics. The only reason the zero tolerance policy was instituted was because a minority of people are displaying behavior that does not belong on or around the pitch. The concept of this award is a noble one. It's lack of perfection does not diminish the winner's accomplishment. The criteria for the value of this award cannot be determined by critics that have an agenda just because they did not win. Just my opinion as a former coach and referee.

You sound like a coach trying to do the right thing. Not once did I defend a referee regarding the award. Are referees perfect? No. Do you think they take the trouble to be recertified every year and work multiple games because they want to do a poor job? Don't blame the referees if the system is not perfect. Some of the complaints strike me as the usual tactic abused today. Don't like the question? Blame the media. Don't like the result of the game? Blame the referee. Still want to argue an inconsequential throw-in call from earlier in the game because you thought I got it wrong? What sense does that make? My comments have been limited to the value of the award and its scoring system. However now you are making comments and assumptions about how referees are scoring that are based on it being their 3rd game and being antagonistic? The system is not perfect. I think the new change reported by a poster regarding weekly posting of the scores will be helpful and increase transparency. If that happens then teams will get immediate feedback and see where they stand week after week.

Each and every game has different interaction of all involved. As for the end of season results, a team that finished at or near the bottom has been rated by as many as 10 different referees. IMHO, if they are at the bottom there is a reason for it and they deserve it. The same goes for the team at the top of the standings!