On April 7, 2024, our Varsity Boys Futsal and Girls Volleyball team went to compete in Big 8, a sports tournament designed to provide athletes with competition against other international schools from around Brazil, including Chapel, EAB (Escola Americana de Brasilia), EAC (Escola Americana de Campinas), EARJ (Escola Americana de Rio de Janeiro), Graded, ISC (International School of Curitiba), PACA (Pan American Christian Academy), and Sant’Anna.
As the semi-finals for the Varsity Boys Futsal approached, the three teams were tied in points, and an imminent three-way tie between Graded, EAB, and EARJ approached. Though ultimately EARJ placed first, EAB second, and Graded third, effectively being eliminated from the semi-final, there’s been speculation about what truly occurred during the tiebreak scenario. Graded’s Athletics Director Mr. Jaspers outlines the following possibilities:
- EAB wins the game. EAB would have 9 points, Graded 6 points, and EARJ 3 points.
- EAB and EARJ draw. EAB would have 7 points, Graded 6 points, and EARJ 4 points.
- EARJ wins with a small(er) margin, 3 teams are tied for 6 points. Graded would have been the first to advance to the semi-finals (better goal difference amongst the tied teams). The tie-breaker will go back to a head-to-head result with the remaining tied teams and EARJ would end up in second place and EAB in third place.
- EARJ wins with 10 or more goals. 3 teams are tied for 6 points. EARJ would be first (better goal difference amongst tied teams), and EAB and Graded will go back to head-to-head results. Which would put EAB in second place and Graded in 3rd place.
The controversy arises when scenario four plays out in a situation when EAB loses to EARJ 0x10, in a game in which they were led entirely by their reserve team. Now, the tiebreak scenario which looked favorably for Graded’s team, had completely turned around. In a competition where, as Mr. Jaspers comments, “Participation and sportsmanship are to be held in the highest regard whereby individual team success is held in reasonable perspective,” EABs loss and advancement into the semi-finals poses questions of whether they took advantage of the tiebreak scenario and purposefully lost the game, and more than that, how they built this strategy in the first place, especially considering this is the first time this scenario has played out in Big 8. Was this the student’s design? The coaches? If this wasn’t coincidental, what could be done to prevent this from happening in the future?
According to Mr. Jaspers, “Finding out what really happened will probably be very difficult, but the fact is that no official rules have been broken. Updating and clarifying the rules of the game will be a very important step to ensure teams are not put in a position to have these options.” Nonetheless, Talon Editor-in-Chief Skerry Lu (‘25), argues that “The harm has been done. The seniors on the team will never get to experience a Big 8 again.”
Sophia Juliano and Ashna Rastogi, Juniors, who played in the Girls’ Volleyball section of the Big 8 tournament share their thoughts on the tiebreak scenario with The Talon. Juliano asks what this shows about “our morals in a supposedly educational environment,” with Rastogi stating “They caused a lot of unnecessary stress and harm on the self-esteem of not only the team but the other athletes and teachers. It was unfair to watch those passionate about their sport be disrespected and degraded in the same environment that is supposed to foster their growth.”
To add to the already growing controversy, EAB and EARJ both lost their semi-finals and played against each other once more, but this time for third place. EAB, the team that had lost 0x10 against EARJ had now won Bronze, reinstating doubts about the coincidental nature of their previous game.
Yet, Gabriel Gomes (‘25) part of the Futsal team remains hopeful, stating that “justice always happens.”
*A special thank you to Mr. Jaspers, Sophia Juliano, Ashna Rastogi, Skerry Lu, and Gabriel Gomes for their contributions
