http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/bowling-st-pats-wrong-pants-1.4002840

A youth bowling tournament in St. John's has caused a stir over the colour of a participant's pants.

Seven-year-old Grayson Powell bowled the game of his life on Saturday during a non-league tournament, putting up a high game of 171 en route to a championship win for his team of three.

Grayson was given some harsh news immediately after the provincial gathering — he was disqualified for the colour of his pants.

"The rule is you have to wear black pants," his father, Todd Powell, explained. "The problem I have with it, they allowed him to bowl prior [to disqualification]."

Grayson took part in a 15-minute warm-up. Nothing was said. He then bowled three games — the best three of his young life — and nothing was said.

It wasn't until he was lined up next to his teammates, ready to accept a gold medal for winning the just-for-fun tournament, that Youth Bowl Canada provincial director Gordon Davis pulled Grayson's mother into an office.

Her son, who was wearing faded black jeans, was disqualified.

His pants were just not black enough to meet the tournament's dress code.
"Parents ruin it for kids," Powell said. "If this is what sport is about when it comes to kids...shame on them."

While semantics can be argued — how black were his jeans, really? — Grayson's father has a deeper theory than the colour of his son's pants.
Davis also coaches teams out of a bowling alley in Corner Brook. The teams finishing second and third, who were bumped up to the top spots, were both from his lanes on the island's west coast.

"He should be ashamed of himself," the senior Powell said. "For [Davis] to go back to Corner Brook saying that, 'We won a provincial medal' — no. The three individuals that bowled on Saturday, they are the ones that won that medal."

Davis ejected the Riverdale team to use the provincial win to bolster his own club, Powell alleged.

"He owes these three individuals — three kids — a written apology."
Davis did not return messages left by CBC News.

As for Grayson, he went home feeling dejected, his father said.

When asked by a CBC reporter how the disqualification made him feel, he had only one word.

"Sad."

Here's the follow up he Davis posted

https://www.facebook.com/nlyouthbowling/posts/971378789661204

"As a representative of our NL YBC Executive, I just spoke to Todd Powell and advised him of our decision to have the YBC program in Riverdale Lanes honor their combo mixed team with a ceremony for gold medals. We both realize that this was blown out of proportion for simple communication problems. I informed Todd that the kids had bowled magnificently and yes they deserve to be recognized for their accomplishments even though we could not reverse our decision provincially because of the rules in place. We will make sure these kids are taken care of first because that is what we are all about. We apologized for what decision we had to make and the fact that they were not relayed any information during the first or third game. We will have to make sure in the future that any infractions are brought to the tournament director's attention before it starts. That way all situations are handled immediately and no surprises. In future all rules should be followed no matter what. We want to ensure these kids stay in bowling and we do the best we can to help them grow with our sport. Todd's kids love bowling and we have two other members of his son's team to think about. Thanks again Todd for your understanding and we will do what we can to help the kids stay in our sport.

Gord Davis"

Also

The Canadians have ended their youth bowling pants crisis
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/03/01/youth-bowling-gets-ugly-in-canada-after-organizers-disqualify-7-year-old-over-his-pants/?utm_term=.eae3ef5f933f

Basically kid get medal but has asterisk by his name

So punish the kids who followed the rules? What is the point of having rules then?

Ordinarily I would be inclined to agree with you except for the fact that a conscious decision was made by the 'adults' to ignore the situation UNTIL their kids got beat.  Only then did it apparently become an issue...

If you are going to have a dress code, then you enforce it before the first ball is thrown.  In the parlance of current day, doing otherwise is simply 'bad optics.'

Quote from: milorafferty on March 06, 2017, 04:21:52 PM

So punish the kids who followed the rules? What is the point of having rules then?

Ordinarily I would be inclined to agree with you except for the fact that a conscious decision was made by the 'adults' to ignore the situation UNTIL their kids got beat.  Only then did it apparently become an issue...

If you are going to have a dress code, then you enforce it before the first ball is thrown.  In the parlance of current day, doing otherwise is simply 'bad optics.'

Sorry, but that's a fail of an argument. While I agree the tournament organizers should have addressed this from the beginning, there is something to be said for not wanting to embarrass the kid.

However, the "other" kids, DID follow the rules and this kid did not. The rules said no jeans/denim.

The dad of this kid is an ass, it's his fault. Stop putting parental responsibility on everyone else but the parents.

Sorry, but that's a fail of an argument. While I agree the tournament organizers should have addressed this from the beginning, there is something to be said for not wanting to embarrass the kid.

Which is more embarrassing?  Call the kid out before the first ball or wait until he bowls the game of his life and THEN tell him 'too bad?'

Once they made the decision to let him bowl, they effectively punted the dress code issue.  Had the kid and his team NOT performed well, I doubt anyone says anything about his attire...

However, the "other" kids, DID follow the rules and this kid did not. The rules said no jeans/denim.

The dad of this kid is an ass, it's his fault. Stop putting parental responsibility on everyone else but the parents.

It isn't about shifting PARENTAL responsibility.  It IS about noting that this could have been handled in a far different manner that does not become a viral incident.  This was a FUN tournament.  The manner in which it was handled looked more like the monkey poo-flinging that kids sports have become where the kids just want to have fun and the parents get their panties in a wad...

They very easily could have called the dad to the side afterwards and said 'look, your kid was not properly attired...we let him bowl and we won't penalize him this time, but next time...make sure the dress code is followed because there might be more at stake somewhere else."

To wait until after the event is over and your kid loses to whine about the dress code is the whelp of the beaten cur... 

By the way, does the PBA inspect/weigh your bowling balls BEFORE the tournament begins, or after you have won money?

I have no idea what they are doing given that the last time I bowled in any manner of competition was 13 years ago.  I know that the PWBA had durometer checks that had to be done prior to competition at the national level and they had scales available to check equipment prior to competition. 

However, even that is an apples to oranges comparison given that, as far as the competitors go, adults are responsible for their own actions.  A 7yo probably never saw the specific rules while an adult in membership competition is given (or at least used to be given) a decent sized rulebook...

Thanks for making my argument about "being a responsible parent".


Have a nice day.

You're the type of person ruining bowling and chasing people away. Nice attitude. These are 7 year old kids. Rules are fine, but your attitude is pure nonsense. Again, we are talking about 7 year old kids. This isn't the PBA.

Bottom line, this should have been dealt with at the beginning of the tournament. Since it was not, rules or not, the dress code violation should have been ignored. This is the type of rule that needs to be addressed PRIOR to competition. Period.

It's not like the jeans affected his performance. I would kind of understand if his ball was out of spec. Parents and association are at fault.