What are your opinions on the "mercy rule"? Does a sound thrashing at the hands of a superior opponent on the sports field do any good? Does it build character?

What think you...?

Every thing is hand on character if your character is good every thing is good.
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why is it expected of the team that is doing the thrashing to "take it easy"? Surely this should be re-named the "We Give Up" rule?
By definition the aim of any sporting team is to beat their opposition by scoring more points, therefore, and particularly in professional sport, there is no place for anything even approaching a "Mercy" rule (which strictly speaking is NOT a rule anyway!)
Its up to the team on the receiving end to stand up and stop the opposition scoring, if they are unable or unwilling to do that then they deserve everything they get!

Hi Golden Boy and welcome. Broadly, I agree with what you say about the "mercy rule". However, do you think it does kids any good to be on the end of a hiding each week of the season? Sometimes, kids' teams are put in leagues where the opposition is consistently too strong. The regular wallopings they receive can put them off the sport for life. At one time, I understand the FA in the UK were considering this type of ruling for kids' Sunday afternoon leagues.

Referee Wrote:Hi Golden Boy and welcome.  Broadly, I agree with what you say about the "mercy rule".  However, do you think it does kids any good to be on the end of a hiding each week of the season?  Sometimes, kids' teams are put in leagues where the opposition is consistently too strong. The regular wallopings they receive can put them off the sport for life.  At one time, I understand the FA in the UK were considering this type of ruling for kids' Sunday afternoon leagues.

Specifically I was referring to Professional sport in my post (being a NE fan its a touchy subject! LOL) but thinking about it with regard to amateurs or kids I still believe, given that sport is a metaphor for life, that losing teaches as much as winning does. If we over protect our youngsters by artificially creating games that dont really have a natural conclusion then we are merely hiding the fact that life can be disappointing as well as rewarding, thus helping to create a generation of potential depressives and victims.
Whilst saying this I do agree that putting youngsters into leagues or competitons where they are completely outclassed is totally counter-productive, and is the fault of the adults running the team rather than the kids playing in it.