Once in a while, sports offer something never seen before.
There was the time the Barbados national soccer team, as a result of some unusual qualifying rules, purposely scored on itself to send a game to extra time.
There is the legendary story about Mauro Ruiz – a Mexican League ballplayer who became both the winning and the losing pitcher of the same game back in the 1960’s, and there have also been a number of instances in MMA where double-knockouts have occurred, resulting in a no-contest decision.
But have you ever heard of both teams losing the same game?
Earlier this month the Coquitlam Adanacs met the Langley Thunder in what was slated to be just another regular season Senior A lacrosse game at the Langley Events Centre.
After three hard-fought periods of exciting play, the Adanacs came out on top, earning the 13-10 victory.
Or so they thought.
In the following days it would be revealed that a Coquitlam player who appeared in the game was not listed on the official game sheet, which, according to the Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) rules, results in an automatic forfeit.
The Adanacs had a player get injured only minutes prior to the game and attempted to replace him with a soon-to-be-signed player who was in attendance that night. To accomplish this, the team was required to add him to the roster through the league’s website, however, as they would find out following the game, they were unable to get him added in time due to some technical difficulties.
The individual would go on to play in the game and celebrate the win with his teammates, only to find out later that the win had been revoked and the two points taken away.
At this point the solution seems simple: Coquitlam was using an ineligible player, they must forfeit the game and the win awarded to Langley.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
In a whirlwind of circumstance, it would later come out that the Thunder also had used a player not listed on their game sheet play in the contest, leading to an instant conundrum about what the final result of the game should be.
This head-scratching issue was left up to the WLA to decide.
Following some debate, the league came to a decision on Thursday, the result of which led to both teams being given a loss in the league standings and no points being awarded to either side.
According to the league, because Coquitlam had won the game using an ineligible player, their win would be translated to a loss by forfeit. In a similar vein, Langley’s loss would remain as a result of them also using a player not listed on the game sheet, ultimately leading to what has to be one of the unusual and unlikely results across sports – a double forfeit.
Adanacs General Manager Scott Wortley mentioned it was a circumstance he has rarely come across in his decades-long career in the sport:
“It’s not like we were being deceitful,” said Worltley. “I totally agree, at some point they rationalized that rule to come into play… I support it, but when both teams do it, it's a tough call…It's the kind of stuff in the background that a lot of people don’t see, what the GMs, coaches and staff are doing, managing the roster on the backend. It’s a lot of work.”
He went on to explain that the problem was larger than just the single game, and could potentially hold larger implications for the league as a whole:
“Both teams messed up, both teams should be penalized,” said Wortley. “The other teams want a ruling that’s fair to them as well. Let’s say we kept our two points, then say we’re playing the Island in the first round of the playoffs and we get the home advantage, and then they’re looking back thinking if they had lost that game like they should have, we would now have home advantage, or some scenario like that.”
Despite the disappointing decision, Wortley plans on using it as a learning experience:
“You lose two points for something like that, it’s dejecting for sure,” said Wortley. “I’ve heard about stuff like this, but I’ve never really experienced it before. It’s a lesson for teams who get complacent or have new staff coming in, stuff like that. That’s when mistakes are made, people might not know and they move ahead.”
In another interesting twist, the league decided all the stats from the game would remain official meaning all goals, assists, saves, etc. will remain on the books. According to league officials, the association felt it would be unfair to take away statistics from the eligible players that participated in the contest.
There still remains an opportunity for the result to change as Coquitlam may choose to exercise their right to appeal the league’s decision.
We will continue to update as this story develops.
