Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this is bloody outrageous!

32 replies

ArsMamatoria · 17/06/2010 12:48

Sorry to start/add to the slew of sports day posts, but have just heard news that a little chap very dear to me just came first in his running race after a spectacular sprint finish but was NOT given first prize because the kid who came second had 'been in the lead most of the way'.

Errr, WTF?! Grrrrr.

And I'm not even his mother...

OP posts:
mumdrivenmad · 17/06/2010 12:49

some places don't even have sports days anymore

BigBadMummy · 17/06/2010 12:51

WHAT?!!!!

So when Jenson Button has led for 57 Laps but Lewis Hamilton overtakes him on the last lap of the British Grand Prix, Button still wins?

Fuck off school!!!

That has made even me angry on the little chap's behalf!!

What about pacing yourself? Surely that is what that sort of race is about...

ShirleyKnot · 17/06/2010 12:51

I'm sorry but I think that's a fib.

purpleturtle · 17/06/2010 12:51

And I don't even know him

Iklboo · 17/06/2010 12:52

Was kid who came is second child of a PTA/school governor by any chance?

Pathetic. No wonder we're crap at sports as a nation. You get a prize for not winning

squeaver · 17/06/2010 12:53

I just can't believe that's true, either.

Downdog · 17/06/2010 12:57

dreadful!

Are you sure? Sorry not meaning to doubt you but are you sure you got the story right. It's simply total madness, world gone crazy, doesn't make sense at all.

Original poster
ArsMamatoria · 17/06/2010 12:59

Oooh, have I got my first troll accusation?!
I'm really a MN member now, aren't I?

No, really! Unless there were other circumstances I don't know about, this is a true anecdote.

I don't know, perhaps there were issues surrounding the kid who came second...

Anyway, I'm going to get him a prize for coming first. So there.

OP posts:
YunoYurbubson · 17/06/2010 12:59

There has to be more to the story.

emptyshell · 17/06/2010 12:59

I can't believe you're getting in a state about a flipping school sports day to be honest (and I'm sceptical because it's still a bit early for them to be going off - haven't seen a single practice timetabled yet and I've been out in schools all week).

Give them all a sticker, refuse to allow them to be defined as 1st, 2nd, 3rd... everyone throws a beanbag individually and gets a certificate - just so we don't upset someone.

Seriously - you're being over the top if this is actually true.

backtotalkaboutthis · 17/06/2010 13:00

what a stupid thing to do

yanbu

talk about pathetic

ShirleyKnot · 17/06/2010 13:00

FFS, this is getting irritating. If someone says they don't believe what you're saying that isn't a troll accusation.

It simply means that I do not believe that the school did this. Maybe the little boy is fibbing, maybe the friend is, maybe not.

I'm not calling you a troll.

toccatanfudge · 17/06/2010 13:02

I'm not convinced that's the full story either >>

Original poster
ArsMamatoria · 17/06/2010 13:03

emptyshell - yes it's early but it's a private school and term finishes at the beginning of July.

And I don't think i'm being over the top by having a wee rant on here (is that not what AIBU is there for, after all?) - it's not like I said I was going to complain to the school or anything, now, is it?

OP posts:
redskyatnight · 17/06/2010 13:06

Not convinced it is whole story either.
Would seem reasonable to give 2nd place child a "doing very well" prize.
Or maybe 1st child knocked him/impeded him on his way past.
Or 1st child was found to be a ringer (as in it was a Y1 race and he was Y2 or something)

Original poster
ArsMamatoria · 17/06/2010 13:06

ShirleyKnot - ok, sorry, I was under the impression that trolling was saying things that aren't true to get attention and thought that was what you meant. See what you mean by 'fib', now. Bit quick off the mark, wasn't I?

OP posts:
shinyshoes · 17/06/2010 13:08

our school sports day is next week, it's not too early for sports day.
Good on you OP, it might just boost his knocked confidence a bit

Original poster
ArsMamatoria · 17/06/2010 13:09

Redsky - yes, good idea re. 'doing very well' prize. They are quite small kidlets after all.

Calming down, now

OP posts:
pagwatch · 17/06/2010 13:12

MY DS1 was not given first for one race he won because he had already won four races.

I hasten to add that he is much older now and is certainly not sprinter but that year he just (nearly) won everything and the teachers had to control the booing parents ... I kid you not!
I will never understand why a couple of parents thought it ok to boo my 6 year old bewildered son but that is another thread

seeker · 17/06/2010 13:14

I don;t believe this story. There is more to it.it has been misreported/it is a child's misunderstanding.

Or concievebly the OP is a Daily Mail reporter looking for copy because dollars to doughnuts there'll be a whole slew of people along in a minute saying exactly the same thing happened to theri neighbour's auntie's gardener's postman's nephew.

Poledra · 17/06/2010 13:17

The parents were booing a six year old, pag?? What a load of bullies. In what world is it right for a bunch of grown-ups to treat a child like that?

Never mind, though, your DS1 is gorgeous - if I were but 15 more like 25 years younger......

blackflyinyourchardonnay · 17/06/2010 13:17

YANBU what a strange way of doing it!

A boy at my DDs last school a couple of years ago came first in the egg and spoon race, by holding egg on his spoon with his thumb the whole way.
Was noticed by all, but he was given his 1st place sticker because " he showed initiative "

DD came last by quite a long time, but imo was a true winner, because she stopped to pick her dropped egg every few seconds, and never gave up, even when everyone else had finished!

emptyshell · 17/06/2010 13:18

I worked at one school where we had to remove the parental welly wanging competition over allegations of cheating and contest rigging because one family had won three years in a row and we'd had about 20 complaints.

Also had parents disqualified for cheating at family quiz night once - they had a family member sat at home with the encyclopaedia and kept going to the loo to call home with questions to be answered.

It's all blooming pathetic. I bet the kid's long since forgotten about any of this and is surprisingly un-scarred for life.

ExitPursuedByABear · 17/06/2010 13:19

My DD has her sports day next week, so they are happening. At DD's school they have teams, and points, and prizes, and cheerleaders, and a cup presented to the winning team from each year group at Prize Giving and a trophy for the overall winning team from the school. They know about competition at her school

pagwatch · 17/06/2010 13:21

Poledra

I know, seriously! I was pretty shocked and DS1 was non-plussed.
I just told him afterwards that the mummies ( for it was they) had got a bit over excited about wanting their children to win - that they had just got all silly and were messing around and not really behaving like mummies should.

Swipe left for the next trending thread