Teams which plan to instinctively embarrass or bring into disrepute the annual Sion Hill Netball Tournament, will have punitive measures meted out to them.{{more}}

That is the position of the Sion Hill Netball Committee, as expressed by its chairperson, Sylvia Knights-Clarke. The netball committee and others were stung by the display of poor sportsmanship by the Yanja Young Strugglers team at the knockout finals last Sunday, when they refused to take the court to continue the match in the third quarter.

Young Strugglers were trailing RP Ballers 12-37 in the Division One Friends of Sion Hill New York sponsored elimination competition.

Knights-Clarke told SEARCHLIGHT last Monday that her organisation plans to write the Young Strugglers team, registering disapproval of their actions.

She also said that next year’s rules will reflect punitive actions for the teams which do likewise.

Knights-Clarke said that by forfeiting the match, Young Strugglers also forfeited the right to receive any rewards in the knockout competition.

She said it was a sour occasion, as it was the first time that the competition was being sponsored by the newly established Friends of Sion Hill New York organisation.

Meanwhile, Rachel Phillips of Young Strugglers said that their actions last Sunday were in no way targeted at the organisers or the match officials.

“It was an internal issue with one of our players…. We feel bad about it…. It is the first time that we have ever forfeited a match,” a repentant Phillips told SEARCHLIGHT.

But it was not the first time that similar disrespect was exhibited at a finals in the Sion Hill knockout competition.

In the M & J Essentials final of 2009, between ASCO One and Stinger Girls, the latter basically strolled around in the final quarter, without contesting the match, thus handing ASCO One the title.

It was a case of déjà vu last Sunday, as ironically, most of the current players of RP Ballers were in the Stinger Girls line up, while Jasmine Frank, who last Sunday played for Young Strugglers and one of the presiding umpires, Joan Foster, represented ASCO One.

The script was flipped in 2010, when Stingers Girls, renamed RP Ballers, won the Pearson Education Knockout final without a sweat, as ASCO One defaulted.

The Sion Hill Netball tournament is one of the popular area tournaments, having operated consistently for more than 20 years.(RT)