Conflict Erupts Over Soccer Game Scheduled for Rosh Hashanah

September 29, 2000

Source: The New York Times

On September 29, 2000, The New York Times reported that "the 10-year-old boys of the Avon Soccer Club will not be playing the lads of Fairfield United in the Connecticut state soccer tournament this Saturday. Whether this is due to religious intolerance, as Avon's coach believes, or the inability of some suburban parents to follow the rules, as the Fairfield coach thinks, is for the lawyers to decide. The conflict between the two teams arose this week after it became known that the parents of 7 of the Avon squad's 11 starting players would not allow them to play Saturday, during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. But Fairfield's coach, Donald F. Houston, a Bridgeport labor lawyer, refused to let his team play Avon's before Saturday, saying that an earlier date would not be fair. And league rules do not allow the game to be played later. If Avon's players do not show up Saturday, Fairfield will automatically win and advance in the tournament. 'For me to reschedule the game before Saturday would mean that I couldn't have all my players,' Mr. Houston said today, citing injuries to two of his starters, including his son. 'I didn't see why I had to disadvantage my team to play his team.' Avon's coach, Len Goldberg, accused Mr. Houston of 'hiding behind the rules' and imposing his will on both teams' players. 'This is a case where someone wants to win a game at all costs, no matter what,' Mr. Goldberg said bitterly...Mr. Houston said he learned of the scheduling problem only after he called Mr. Goldberg on Sunday. Even without its 7 Jewish players, he added, Avon would still have 10 players, enough to field a team, albeit one without substitutes. He refused to call the disagreement a religious matter. 'I see it as a soccer scheduling issue only.' Some soccer association officials agreed, saying Jewish holidays are one of many types of obstacles to building a coherent game schedule for thousands of young players. 'There's tons of conflicts, not just religious holidays. Boy Scout outings, school outings, all kinds of things,' said Richard Nelson, an association representative in the southwest district, which includes Fairfield. 'It's certainly not a religious issue.'"