Norway vs. Philippines (Formal Punishment)
July 30, 2023
Eden Park, Auckland Norway vs. Philippines 6-0
Maren Mjelde wasn't sure where to look first.
She gave a congratulatory hug to Sophie Roman Haug, of course - the young forward's three goals had been fully half of Norway's scorecard. More than half, really, if one accounted for the fact that a Philippine own goal had caused the score to be 6, not 5, to nil. "Well done, little one," she cooed. "Good girl, I'm proud of you. And you too, Guro," she added to her Chelsea teammate, giving her a pat on the shoulder. The midfielder preened at Maren's praise, while Sophie blushed at the attention.
Then she made her way to Caroline, squeezing her friend's hand. "Are you all right, Caro? You got pulled pretty hard out there."
"I'm fine, Maren. I can take it," Caro smiled bracingly. "It was just my jersey after all. But Thea..."
Maren looked grim. "How is she?"
"The physios put her in the ice baths. I don't think she needs hospital, but we're just going to make sure she doesn't get any worse off."
Maren nodded. "Let's go," she said, and she put Guro in charge for a few minutes, just so she and Caro could step through to the ice baths. Her Chelsea teammate was competent enough to handle matters, having captained before.
Neither of them were particularly surprised to find Ingrid there already, kneeling by the tub. Caro shook her head fondly at her young Barca teammate.
"Needing someone to look after, Ingrid?"
Ingrid looked up, eyes shimmering. "Caro....did you see what that girl did to Thea?"
"We all saw it on review, kjaere." Caro sat down next to Ingrid, and put an arm around her, turning to look at Thea as Maren sat on the other side of the tub.
"Are you feeling better, Thea?"
The young Norwegian nodded slowly. "Uh huh. It's alright, I think, Captain. But I guess the other girl won't be alright."
"I would guess not," Maren agreed grimly, wondering what, exactly, was going down in the Philippines' dressing room that moment.
***
"You two are fucked, you realise that, don't you."
Jaclyn Sawicki - the half-Polish, half-Filipina, and Canadian-raised midfielder - pinned both her younger teammates with a scowl. "What the hell did you think you were doing, pulling on Graham-Hansen's jersey? Stupid. Annis never stood for that and Long sure as fuck won't - and don't you tell me you're older than the Skipper, I'll whip you myself if I have to."
Katrina Guillou cringed. It was true, she'd been about to point out that she was older than Hali Long, who'd been wearing the armband for the Philippines all through the group stage. But Sawicki was older than them both - second eldest, right after Tahnai Annis, and right before Katrina. She shut her mouth with a snap, looking warily at Jaclyn.
"Harrison. Think you're funny, do you?" Jaclyn turned on the defender with a glower. "Yanking on a jersey is bad enough, but you! You had to take the kid down with a shin tackle? What the fucking hell was that? You hadn't even been brought on ten minutes before!"
Sofia sputtered, shaking her head, the way she'd done when the ref brought out the red card. "N-no, Jaclyn, please, it's not my fault, I didn't--"
"Like hell it wasn't. We all saw the tape, brat," Jaclyn snapped. "It was an intentional tackle, and a useless one. Completely unnecessary. What were you doing, showing off?"
Sofia gulped, staring at the floor. "She was just in the way."
"So you go around her, you don't half kill her, idiot child. Well, you got red carded, rightly, and you're going to get your arse whipped good and proper now. Are you going to argue with me about it being Long or do I have to do it myself?"
Sofia squeaked and shook her head, whimpering. "But Jackie, she's never--I haven't--"
"And you. Barker." Jaclyn snapped her fingers, and the twenty-five-year-old defender lifted her head, looking warily at Jaclyn. "You'll be getting one, too. Learn what goal you're putting balls in and pay attention next time."
Alicia sucked in a breath and nodded, but didn't argue. "Yes ma'am."
“I thought Canadians were supposed to be nice,” Sofia muttered under her breath.
Jaclyn grabbed Sofia and swatted the seat of her shorts. “You watch your mouth. I’m just as Filipina as you, little girl.”
Sofia wanted to point out she was only five years younger than Jaclyn, but thought better of it. “Sorry.”
“You will be. Go get it, Harrison.”
There was no question in Sofia Harrison’s mind what ‘it’ was, or where ‘it’ was to be found.
Slowly, she approached Tahnai Annis, the Filipina squad’s team eldest, and stood in front of her. “Jaclyn’s sent me to bring it to her, ma’am,” Sofia ventured quietly. There was no further need for explanation.
Tahnai stood up, going to her locker and moving her bag aside. She withdrew the two foot long implement, painted a deep blue, marked with red, white and gold in imitation of the team’s primary uniform kit. She followed Sofia back to the others, and beckoned Hali Long over.
“Sawicki. Send the others out of here. Harrison, Guillou, Barker, you three sit on the bench there, while you can.”
Sofia sat uncertainly beside Alicia, with Katrina on Alicia’s other side, as Jaclyn went to send the rest of the Filipinas into the ice baths, closing the door between them and the dressing room. Then Jaclyn returned to stand between Tahnai and Hali.
“Cards are unacceptable,” Tahnai said firmly. “Especially red cards. Own goals are avoidable accidents. We won’t have that on this team.”
“Not that it matters much now, Cap,” Katrina said quietly. “We’re done.”
“We might be done at this tournament. I’m not giving up on you three,” Tahnai said firmly. “None of us are. If we’re going home tomorrow, you’ll at least be remembering this lesson tonight. Barker.”
Alicia jumped. “Ma’am?” she ventured, eyeing the wicked-looking cane in Tahnai’s hand. It might be on the smaller, lighter side - a nursery cane, not unlike the one the Football Ferns had - but it was still formidable.
“Ordinarily I would go youngest first, but it appears Harrison needs more attention than you two, so you’re up.” She gestured to Alicia.
“Stand up.”
Jaclyn fetched a chair as Alicia moved to obey, and put it in front of Alicia.
“Bend over that. Hands on the seat,” Tahnai ordered, and Alicia obeyed, not at all looking forward to it but hoping prompt obedience would mean it was over sooner.
The position stretched Alicia’s shorts tight over her bottom, and Alicia clung to the edge of the seat, holding tight to the chair as the rattan switch hissed through the air, catching her across the middle of her bottom.
One. Two. Three. The strokes were sharp and laid on quickly, and Alicia shuddered, eyes blurred with tears, as she tried not to let them fall. “O-oh, ow…sorry…sorry, Captains…”
“Alright. Get up, Alicia,” Tahnai ordered. “It’s Katrina’s turn now.”
Slowly, Alicia pushed herself to her feet, accepting a hug from Jaclyn. The older player patted Alicia’s back lightly, drawing her away.
“That’s it, kid,” Jaclyn soothed, not letting Alicia watch as Katrina bent over for her own set of three strokes, laid on a little harder than Alicia’s had been - her switching had just brought her to the edge of tears, while Katrina’s sent her over it.
“Sorry, sorry Hali,” the yellow carded player sobbed, pressing herself into Hali’s arms. “I won’t do it again.”
“We’ll see,” Hali said. “But you can’t go pulling other players around by their jerseys, you could have given her whiplash.”
Katrina’s eyes widened and she cried into Hali’s shoulder. “Oh, oh no, sorry Skipper, I didn’t even think of that!”
“Of course you didn’t think. Of course,” Hali agreed. “But you will now, won’t you?”
“Oh yes, ma’am,” Katrina sniffled, shuddering in Hali’s arms. “I’ll remember, I’ll be so good.”
“Alright. Why don’t you and Alicia go with Jaclyn now,” Hali prompted.
Katrina froze. “B-but what about Sofia?”
“Sofia’s red card has to be dealt with,” Hali said quietly.
Sofia Harrison froze, looking up at Tahnai and Hali, wide-eyed. “Alone?”
Tahnai and Hali exchanged looks.
“You’re not alone, Sofia,” Hali said quietly. “I won’t lie and say it’s not going to be awful, because you were incredibly naughty today.”
The use of that word made Sofia’s face flush, and she stared at the floor, not even noticing as Jaclyn herded Katrina and Alicia away.
“You do understand that, don’t you?” Hali pressed. “That tackle was entirely unacceptable. I don’t know what you were thinking. Were you even thinking? You could have seriously injured that kid.”
Sofia mutely shook her head, closing her eyes tightly and exhaling. “How many?”
“No less than six,” Tahnai said grimly. “Shorts down and bend over the chair.”
“Skipper, please…” Sofia’s voice shook. “I don’t know if I can.”
Tahnai and Hali exchanged another long look. “It’s a red card, Sofi. We don’t have any other choice,” Hali said, more gently than before. “But you can hold onto me if you want to, instead.”
Anxiously, Sofia nodded, and Hali turned and put her foot up on the bench, leading Sofia to bend over her thigh. She tugged Sofia’s shorts down herself, leaving her in just her panties, then let Sofia grab hold of her leg. Hali placed an arm over Sofia’s back, holding her securely.
“Okay Sofia,” Hali said. “Cap’ll make this quick.”
Nervously, Sofia clung to Hali’s leg as the switch whipped down across her bottom, six times in rapid succession, each getting progressively lower. The last stripe bit into her sit spots, and the fire bloomed across Sofia’s bottom all at once as she sobbed, struggling against Hali’s grasp.
“P-please, sorry, sorry sorry….”
“Shhh.” Hali’s left hand rubbed Sofia’s back, and she soothed the younger Filipina gently. “Breathe. I’ve got you, Sofi. I know you’re sorry, Tahnai knows you’re sorry.” She lifted the panicked girl into her embrace, holding her tightly. “There, honey, breathe easy for me.”
Sofia tried to get her breathing back under control, following Hali’s lead as the captain talked her through it.
“I hope we never have to deal with a red card from you ever again, Sofia. You’re so much better than this, than what you did today. I know you can play better, I know you can be better. I trust that you’ll learn something from this. Won’t you?”
“Uh huh.” Sofia Harrison nodded meekly, clinging to Hali as to a lifeline. She shuddered as Tahnai pulled her shorts back up. “S-sorry.”
“Okay.” Hali nodded in return. “It’s forgiven, Sofia. Just remember, try not to get red carded any more.”
“I’ll try,” Sofia whispered. Hali scooped the younger girl up in her arms, and carried her to join the others in the ice baths.
Ice or no ice, they were sure she’d still be remembering this tomorrow. The stripes wouldn’t last much longer than that - but hopefully the lesson would stick.