Only on rare occasions does the intramural coordinator at Iowa State Recreation Services have to drop a team or suspend a player from intramural competition because of unsportsmanlike behavior.

“It’s been at least three years,” Gary Greenlee, Intramural Coordinator for Iowa State, said. “We don’t have very many problems, but we take them seriously when we do.”

Just recently, Greenlee had to drop a soccer team from further play because of two consecutive “C” ratings given to the team by intramural referees. The team was trash talking, playing too aggressively and complaining about the officiating, Greenlee said.

“Out of 80 soccer games the officials gave out four `C’ ratings. This team had two of them, Greenlee said. “You have “C” ratings all the time, but to get two `C’ ratings is uncommon by a team.”

Besides the team problems, there have been a few extreme individual cases this year as well.

“A swinging match broke out between two players during an ultimate Frisbee game,” Greenlee said. “The two individuals were suspended from all intramural activities for 10 weeks.”

According to the Intramural Handbook, a team will be given an A, B or C sportsmanship rating by the officials after each game. A “C” rating is not satisfactory and the team will receive a letter to encourage better behavior. A second “C” rating results in the team being dropped from further competition.

“We always tell teams to play hard and play to win, but don’t be so obsessed with winning that you forget to respect everyone who is out there,” Greenlee said.

Greenlee said the most common infraction teams and players have is with the officials.

Alex Rodrigues has been officiating intramural soccer for three years now and has experienced the constant nagging players give the referees.

“I’ve been around a game where one team wanted to fight the refs because of the officiating,” Rodrigues, senior in mechanical engineering, said. “That team was eventually escorted from the field and disciplinary action was taken.”

Greenlee said, “It’s a tough job to handle for only $6.50 an hour. We always offer individuals who are having troubles with the referees to come and officiate a game. Hopefully after doing this they understand what the official is going through.”

Rodrigues said it is up to the referee on how much he or she can take before they start penalizing the player or team.

“I normally give one warning, and then I start penalizing after that,” Rodrigues said. “An older referee might be able to take more trash talking than a first year ref.”

First-year official, Kedrin Moser will only take so much before she starts blowing her whistle.

“It all depends on what kind of language they use,” Moser, freshman in liberal arts and sciences said. “Swearing I won’t take. That’s an immediate penalty.”

Despite the trash talking, complaining to officials and the few suspensions, Rodrigues and Greenlee believe there is still a lot of good sportsmanship out there.

“Overall there is good sportsmanship among players and teams, especially at the lower leagues,” Rodrigues said. “It seems to be the more higher in skill the worse the sportsmanship gets.”

“Intramural wrestling is a great example of good sportsmanship,” Greenlee said. “Wrestling is by far the most physical intramural sport we offer, but when it’s all over these guys have respect for each other. That’s good sportsmanship.”