Colony junior shows integrity

Late in the second half of the Colony boys soccer team’s season-opening 3-1 win over Grace Christian at The Dome in Anchorage Tuesday evening, Colony junior James Meaney ripped a shot from inside the box into the upper corner of the net.

Meaney gave the Knights the early lead with a pair of first-half goals and appeared to have notched the hat trick with the strike. But the key word here is appeared.

Following the play, the referee conferred with his colleague on the field and called the shot a goal. It was Meaney’s third of the game and gave the Knights a 4-1 advantage. But as the referee jogged up the field, ready to resume play, Meaney stopped the referee and asked him if he was counting the goal.

Meaney told the referee he had touched the ball with his hand — which by rule results in a change of possession — as he worked to settle the pass from a teammate, and said the goal should not count. In an act of true sportsmanship, Meaney disallowed his own goal. With his honesty, he erased his own hat trick.

Colony head coach Jeremy Johnson was obviously baffled as he watched the referee wave off the score and saw his leading scorer trot back to the site of the infraction.

“It looked like he settled it with his chest,” Johnson said. “We chipped a long ball into the box and he cracked it into the upper corner. Apparently he settled it with his hands.”

Johnson said the play was, “one of the craziest things” he’s seen on a soccer field. But also one of the most positive.

“He did the sporting thing,” Johnson said. “The (Grace Christian) coach thought it was really great. Everybody appreciated the sportsmanship.”

The play took just seconds. Basically everyone on the field — referees, coaches and players on the field — thought it was a goal. Meaney could have easily kept quiet, lined up at the center of the field and stood ready to resume play with his hat trick.

But Meaney spoke up and did the right thing.

Meaney told the truth.

Unfortunately, we live a society in which ethical and moral principles such as integrity are overlooked, forgotten. For some, athletics can bring out the worst. Skill can trump character, and winning is celebrated regardless of whether that victory was earned with honor or class. Sadly, I’m not speaking of just the professional ranks. That attitude has seeped into the collegiate and even prep and youth levels.

But Meaney’s actions on Tuesday show me that not all of our young athletes have lost their grasp of the idea of true sportsmanship. Meaney led the Knights in goals during each of his first two seasons at Colony High. Johnson honestly could not remember whether Meaney had posted a hat trick during his career. Tuesday could have marked his first three-goal high school game.

Regardless, how many people — other than Meaney — would remember that hat trick against Grace Christian on a Tuesday afternoon in early April? I guarantee everyone involved will remember the day Meaney passed up his hat trick to do the right thing.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.