Here is a stunning story about about a chess coach who let his home schooled son play for the school illegally:

 

http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7426041

 

The team got second place with the illegal player on the team. After the event the chess coach involved resigned, the team returned the second place trophy, the school was fined, and the school will not play for a whole year. However, the school says after the year of not playing they will return to chess competition and the chess team will stay together.

It seems a bit unfair to punish the kids for the coach's actions.

Mr_Wibbles wrote: It seems a bit unfair to punish the kids for the coach's actions.

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 You could have a real moral/ethical debate over this one. The kids on the team had to know that one of their team members didn't actually go to their school. Did they ever speak up to anyone about it? This is a relatively easy way to learn a lesson about standing around doing nothing when you see something wrong going down.

True, but also it was not as if the children did not determine that there may be consequences for 'telling'. Poor things must have been frightened to speak up!

The hell with the kids. If you were on the team a student at the school that is would you not tell the old bastard to get off the team so the other members and you could have a real shot at the cup. They all knew if they go caught they would lose. It was a rush for them and now they know not to cheat. The only reason games are fun is because they have rules and guidelines to follow. Unlike some shit in our lifes.

I wonder why the father didn't just enroll his son in one class at the school so he would be eligible to participate. That's a common way to skirt the rules. It benefits the school (they get better winning chances) and the child (they get to participate in school clubs).

Yeah but you have to imagine that to get the kid in the game, the coach may have lied to the kids saying that everything was taken care of. Maybe the kids didn't know that the coach's son couldn't play.

MolotovRuss wrote: True, but also it was not as if the children did not determine that there may be consequences for 'telling'. Poor things must have been frightened to speak up!

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 No more frightened than they'll be someday when their boss/governement/etc. is doing something they know to be wrong. Why not learn the lessons of courage when you're young and consequences are relatively little.

I found an article which explains the incident in more detail. Excerpt from TheTandD.com:

 

Davis said he made a bad decision that day. Bowman Academy prepared to have 13 students compete, but one was unable to show up.

His son came along that day, not expecting to play, Davis said. He decided to let his son play one match while they waited to see if the missing student showed up.

"We didn't take him as a ringer," Davis said.

One thing led to another, and Davis' son continued to play. And win.

Davis said one of the organizers told him if there was a tie, they'd have a playoff. He prepared to have his son throw the match.

But instead of a playoff, they fed the names into a computer to come up with rankings. And Davis' son came in second.

Davis says he was embarrassed.

"I did not intend for it to happen this way. ... I did not intend to win a trophy. I had one kid missing and one extra kid standing by," Davis said. And he says, it being his first SCISA event, he didn't understand the severity of the problem.

Davis says while members of First Baptist Church in Bowman have forgiven him, others do not understand he did not go into the situation intending to do anything unethical.

"In our society, a person's motives and intent are weighed against what he's done wrong. I need to let everyone concerned know my motive was not to steal a trophy," he said. Initially, he just wanted his son to play until the real player showed up. And he didn't expect his son to win.

"None of that matters. What I did was dishonest," he said.

"Davis said one of the organizers told him if there was a tie, they'd have a playoff. He prepared to have his son throw the match."

 

The ol' two rongs make a rite trick. 

Oh, what a tangled web we weave,

When first we practice to deceive.

Why... Very strange...