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I coach rugby union and have had a couple of rather amusing incidents where a couple of players believe their duty to their religion is greater than their duty to the team with training on Sunday mornings.
Now because the lights are not so great I require the players to train on Sunday mornings to get timings right in certain moves.
My rule is this, no train, not picked for the team, nice and simple.
But these two lads believe it is unfair on my part because it forces them into the situation of missing their church service which they need they say, or getting cut from the team.
I cannot see how it is unfair as they have a choice, but is it unfair from a religious point of view ?
I coach rugby union and have had a couple of rather amusing incidents where a couple of players believe their duty to their religion is greater than their duty to the team with training on Sunday mornings.
Now because the lights are not so great I require the players to train on Sunday mornings to get timings right in certain moves.
My rule is this, no train, not picked for the team, nice and simple.
But these two lads believe it is unfair on my part because it forces them into the situation of missing their church service which they need they say, or getting cut from the team.
I cannot see how it is unfair as they have a choice, but is it unfair from a religious point of view ?
If there are church services available at other times, the players have the option of attending them.
Your responsibility is to the team, not the religious practices of two players.
I coach rugby union and have had a couple of rather amusing incidents where a couple of players believe their duty to their religion is greater than their duty to the team with training on Sunday mornings.
Now because the lights are not so great I require the players to train on Sunday mornings to get timings right in certain moves.
My rule is this, no train, not picked for the team, nice and simple.
But these two lads believe it is unfair on my part because it forces them into the situation of missing their church service which they need they say, or getting cut from the team.
I cannot see how it is unfair as they have a choice, but is it unfair from a religious point of view ?
I do think it's unfair. Or at the very least, not very understanding. Then again, I haven't met a lot of "understanding" coaches.
Life is full of tough decisions. There are certainly no exceptions to this in sports.
What is the nature of your team? Is it a school team? A rec/park team? A travel team?
I think the type of team you are coaching should be considered when trying to decide how much or how little you should accomadate your players needs.
Most coaches I've met base their decisions on their "star" players needs, or their own needs. But I'm just a players mom, what do I know?
One child was "the star" the other child was a bench warmer a bit too often, so I've seen both sides of it.
Even in supposedly religious U.S., life goes on on Sundays, church or not. If those two players put church services before rugby, cut them from the team. Fair is fair.
If I were you coach, I'd throw the old 'free will' card at them. After all, they love to use it don't they? Tell them ...
[i]'God gave you 'free-will'. You can choose to believe in God or you can chose not to but if you choose not to, you must be prepared to spend an eternity suffering.
Likewise, you have free-will to chose whether to attend training or not but if you choose not to, you will have to suffer not being picked for the team.....but at least my punishment won't last for eternity!'[I/]
Looking at it the other way, is it fair to everyone else to allow certain religions to have special privileges not given to the rest of the team? That is, if you allow one group to get out of practice because of their religion not only does everyone else suffer through an extra practice, but they get dragged down when they're forced to play with the under-trained religious guys.
I know you mentioned light is a problem, but my gut is to offer the religious folks the choice of a 4AM practice so that it fits in their schedule...
Matthew 6.24. "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other." They will have to choose whether they are devoted to their religion or their sport. They cannot demand that the rules be rewritten to suit them them and their religious preferences.
It is exactly the same line I take with those who want the rules changed to allow them to opt out of selling bacon, contraceptive pills, gay marriages, being obliged to carry warning signs on their vehicles or not allowed to wave their religious symbols in airline passenger's faces.
I do not demand that Muslim airlines serve me alcohol because it offends me if I am denied it - I simply refuse to fly a dry airline on principle.
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