Let’s see — what’s more important?
A—A soccer roster listing a girl as a boy.
B—A birth certificate with the “girl’s” name and sex.
Soccer organizers from the Southern Sarpy Activities Program in Nebraska have drawn national attention for their mishandling of a girl who was incorrectly listed as a boy on a soccer roster.
Some whiny adult incorrectly informed tournament organizers that a “boy” was playing on a girls 11-and-under soccer team, said Bill Bianco, attorney for the Southern Sarpy Activities Program, which organized the tournament. The truth is they were probably upset that an 8-year-old girl was running circles around their 11-year-old daughter.
Tournament organizers, checked the roster and saw that Mili, who has short dark hair, was listed as a boy on the team’s roster, according to Bianco.
Listing a male player on a girls team roster is a violation of tournament rules.
Common sense would dictate that tournament organizers would simply verify whether Mili was indeed a girl who had been mistakenly listed as a boy on the roster.
All it would’ve taken would have been a simple converation since Mili’s father had her birth certificate.
But, no, tournament organizers just simply disqualified Mili’s team. The team was disqualified before a quarterfinal game with the winner advancing to the semifinals.
Tournament officials followed the theory that — If it looks like a duck, talks like a duck, walks like a duck, it must be a duck.
Gerardo Hernandez, Mili’s dad, said she cried when her team was disqualified. Third-grader Mili, whose name is Milagros, has been called Mili since she was young.
Mo Farivari, president of Mili’s soccer club, blamed the disqualification on a typo on the team roster listing Mili as a boy.
In a written statement, the tournament organizer said:
“Tournament officials are committed to the kids that play and if a team has rostering issues the tournament officials are willing to address the issues prior to the start of the tournament to avoid future confusion.”
All was not lost, however.
Mili was mentioned in tweets by two world-renowned soccer Hall of Famers.
Mia Hamm — “Hey Mili, we would love to host you at one of our camps @TeamFirstSA. Be you!”
Abby Wambach — “Mili, don’t EVER let anyone tell you that you aren’t perfect just as you are. I won championships with short hair.”
Officials for the Southern Sarpy Activities Program accomplished one thing — they made an 8-year-old cry.

Jim Misunas