Penalty Woes

In my entire school life, Football was a sport which I liked only while viewing on television or watching my friends play. I never really cared about this game. I mean it just looked too stupid to even waste my time on.

An honest confession… I was really fat. I couldn’t run a 100 meter race properly. If I did complete it, only the lord and my mother know how tired I could get. Post running if you would see me, I’m sure that my deep breathing act could beat how Madhuri Dixit did it in “Dhak Dhak karne Laga” song. 😛

So, football was something which I just did not try to put an effort into. As I entered college life, I got thin, more athletic (by my standards at least) and took a good chunk of interest in football. Below is a story of 1 situation during 2 games where telling the truth was what gave me peace.

Situation 1:

When we friends made a football team, you know there is a rush we get while practicing, thinking of how we will shoot, pass, how will we make sure that we win our first match as a team. Funny thing was that I even had an awesome dream of how I would score the winning goal and get my team through to the next round and be the hero of the day!

After 2 weeks of practicing, we enlisted ourselves in an inter-class football tournament. The first match nervousness was creeping in all of us. The main reason being that many of our classmates and some professors were watching. We were worried that if we lose, how our friends and teachers would perceive us. We would be tagged as “Losers” for sure. Anyways, we tried keeping these negative thoughts aside and played a good game.

The match was moving towards a draw until I fell in the opponent’s penalty box. Usually such situations, there is a maximum chance of the referee giving the decision of a penalty kick. My team was in an over joyous mode already… But something did not feel right. An honest confession again… I slipped. The muck was a huge influencing factor. But with me the defender of the opposition fell too. So for the referee it almost looked like he tried to pull me down. Seriously I felt like telling the referee to change the decision… But for that moment, the feeling of an easy win clouded my mind. I didn’t utter a word. I took the penalty, scored… and as it unfolded in the dream, I took my team through to the next round.

But it did not feel like a win. I smiled… but not fully. Whenever I practiced, that feeling of guilt did not leave my conscience. I tried man… I tried real hard, but it just wouldn’t let go of me.

Situation 2:

2 months later we participated in some college event. They had a rink football tournament and we thought with the practice, we could do better and try winning the trophy. We did go through a couple of rounds. In the quarter finals, we found an evenly matched opponent. The match went 0-0 in normal time. We got an additional 5 minutes to be played as extra time. And that’s when history repeated itself. There was a clash with the defender and I fell easily. It was just a standard shoulder push and the referee pointed towards the penalty box.

What I did was walked over to the referee and told him about the situation. The decision was overturned… We lost the match on penalties.

My friends had just lost the match but I lost both; the match and my friends. They failed to understand what went through my mind.

But that’s not all. On the brighter side, I felt guilt free. It felt good doing the right thing. I did pay the price for it but deep down, I knew that was the right thing to do.

Kinley Commercial:

This below commercial resembles my situation. It’s about a girl who lies to her father and goes for an overnight trip with friends. Late in the night, she cannot sleep due to the guilt and thus calls her father late at night to tell him the truth. She knew there could be dire consequences. She could be banned from any such outings, maybe grounded for a week or a month. But that did not stop her from speaking up. Her father on listening to her confession decides to not shout and asks her to take care of herself. Sometimes, there can also be a positive outcome too.

I do have 1 question for you guys.

Was there a time in your life when telling the truth was a right thing to do?

If yes, then do share that moment with me.