From 40-0 loss to 3-3 draw for school football team

The first XI that suffered an extraordinary 40-goal defeat at a South Island secondary schools football tournament put in a vastly improved showing yesterday to grind out a 3-3 draw – a result its principal described as ‘‘glorious’’.

But while Invercargill school Verdon College has been praised for the way it bounced back from the record-breaking loss, a national secondary school sports administrator said measures could be put in place to avoid blowouts of that magnitude ever occurring again.

Two days after losing 40-0 in a 60-minute game against Christchurch Boys’ High School at the Linwood tournament on Monday, Verdon and Bayfield High School could not be separated in their final match of pool play, drawing 3-3.

Principal Jarlath Kelly said the result was ‘‘glorious’’.

Christchurch Boys’ headmaster Nic Hill had earlier put the 40-goal win over Verdon down to ‘‘an unfortunate match-up’’ after his school scored at a rate of one goal every 90 seconds.

But Leigh Perry, the national administrator for New Zealand Secondary Schools Football, said someone from either side should have intervened to prevent the score from blowing out.

Perry said the game would be reviewed by NZSSF at its annual general meeting today and rules could be implemented to prevent such lopsided scores happening at future schoolboy tournaments.

Perry said the Linwood tournament was an ‘‘open entry tournament’’ for schools that did not qualify for the premier secondary schools championships.

‘‘We’ll certainly be having a look at what needs to be done to prevent that from happening again in the future,’’ Perry said.

‘‘Certainly something should have been done at the time. It shouldn’t have been allowed to blow out to that extent.

‘‘We don’t have rules in place, like a mercy rule, or anything like that currently because it’s never occurred before, but I would have thought the schools would have come up with an intervention.’’

School Sport New Zealand chief executive Mike Summerell said it was his understanding that Verdon’s players wanted to continue playing, and that Christchurch Boys’ did not celebrate when they scored.

‘‘We live in a time now when participant voice and player voice is so important, and you never want to see a blow out like that, but what they did was talk with the players and talk with the coaches, and they were all keen to carry on. If that’s the case then you need to listen as well,’’ Summerell said.

‘‘My understanding was they [Christchurch Boys’] were just trying to keep possession but you can only keep possession for so long before you actually start moving down the field and finish off some things.

‘‘But to Verdon’s credit they did not drop their lip. They kept going ... and how good was it to see them get a scoreline like they did today where they’ve come away and got a draw.’’

Tournament director Fiona Ward was impressed by the character shown by Verdon to bounce back with a draw, having also suffered two 14-0 losses during pool play.

Ward said Verdon had been boosted by the availability of some players who had missed the Christchurch Boys’ game.

‘‘I have seen them all week and they have still been out there really putting some effort in,’’ Ward said. ‘‘The big loss hasn’t put them off. They have just kept fighting, carried on and played with a bit of heart.

‘‘A lot of people would have totally given up and got the pip. I just think, good on them.’’

Christchurch Boys’ were scheduled to play Papanui High School in today’s final.

‘‘How good was it to see them get a scoreline like they did today.’’

School Sport New Zealand chief executive Mike Summerell on Verdon College’s dramatic turnaround